Emerald Gleaner: Viral Unicorn
by Legionary
Summary: [PROTOTYPE 2] My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Crossover. Oskar's secret has been revealed to Twilight in totality, Twilight faces betraying her friend or betraying her morals. The events of season 2 are fast approaching and the ripples Oskar has caused through his mere presences alone changes more and more. Can a friendship survive when one of of the friends is a killer?
1. Chapter 1: Growing Ever Stronger

Oskar walked down a tunnel sloping downwards gently; it was the tunnel leading into the cavern capital city of the Enclave, her nation.

Oskar was currently in her altered base form, created via combining the human genes of her original base form and splicing 'Emerald's' genes into it. The result was a slender, pale skinned beautiful young woman with blazing pink hair and eyes like gleaming emeralds, wearing the clothes of her original base form, which were baggy on her now feminine frame. Though Oskar could have easily adjusted the clothing to fit her female form in a more befitting way, namely making the shirt and pants much more form fitting, she didn't feel comfortable doing that and just kept the original size from her male base form.

A deep pain throbbed in Oskar's chest and the Evolved knew that no matter how much morphine she used, this particular pain would not fade away so easily. Her mind was in chaos, unable to think of a solution to what had just happened. Her true self, the very thing she had worked so hard to keep hidden, was now fully known to Twilight and there was no real way of knowing what the unicorn would do with it.

Images of herself in her Emerald Gleaner form getting ambushed by the Elements of Harmony and the princesses plagued her mind, but just as numerous as those were images of Twilight awaiting her with a deeply pained and conflicted look upon her features. Her emotions were like a whirlwind gone mad and left her nigh impotent before the task of preparing for the consequences of her actions.

Quite simply, Oskar had no clue what to do to save herself… or if she even should in the first place. An overpowering sense of guilt washed over Oskar and she found herself placing a hand against the wall to support herself. All the death, all the plotting, all the blood on her monstrous claws, all to save her own life… but was it actually worth saving?

Oskar shook her head and continued forward down the tunnel, doing her best to shake off the emotions she felt. In all honesty, Oskar could answer that question right here and now; no, it was not worth saving. Did that mean Oskar would stop trying to protect herself? No. In spite of her own ever growing self-loathing and guilt for her own actions, Oskar would still lash out with lethal force in an instant to preserve herself in the face of justified retribution. It was a part of her nature, of what made her who she was and helped her to survive despite all the dangers she had faced in the past three years, and it wasn't going to stop now despite her own feelings on the matter.

"Hello boss," a voice said as Oskar exited out of the end of the tunnel.

Immediately the virus whipped about, her arm already shifted into a claw on pure instinct and ready to cut down the one who snuck up on her.

"… Tense?" Belvedere asked with raised brows, staring down the gleaming blades inches from his muzzle.

The Greyhound Alpha had apparently either been waiting for her or had just been loitering outside the tunnel exit, leaning against the cavern wall. Oskar had just been too caught up in her own thoughts and emotions to notice him as she passed.

"Yes… yes I am," Oskar answered with a sigh and immediately withdrew her claw as she shifted it back to normal.

"Well it has been a hectic and confusing half hour or so," Belvedere replied with a shrug. "The trees started going crazy along with all the animals in the Everfree, even the Timber Wolves. Everyone above ground ran back down here for refuge in case the forest was going to finally attack, but other than completely freaking out it did nothing."

"Well the only one that can answer that mystery in any shape or form is the Timber Spirit itself," Oskar answered and furrowed her brows as she thought. "After all it seems to have some sort of connection with nature and this place in particular. It's so tricky to get a hold of it when you want to talk to it though… it could be hours or weeks before it comes by of its own volition."

"Hmm…" Belvedere hummed a reply while looking up and down Oskar's form. "A new variation of your base form? What is it for?"

That caused Oskar to pause in her thoughts as she looked down at her own body. For the longest moment she stared down before she frowned. Then with a surge of black tendrils, Oskar was standing before Belvedere in his original base form.

"Nothing, nothing at all," Oskar answered a bit gruffly. "How are things in gun development?"

"Going smoothly as far as I can tell," Belvedere answered, smoothly adapting to the sudden change in topic. "They've figured out how to make those 'bolt action rifles' fire a bit faster and more cleanly, and they have also started developing one of those many guns you've described to them. They should be done, the first prototype of it, in a few days."

"Great work." Oskar nodded before turning towards the stone city before him and started walking. "If I'm needed for something, just look for me in one of the various workshops. I'll be working on something important to our future development."

"Sure thing boss," Belvedere said after the virus.

As Oskar walked, thoughts of various designs and plans for the future of his nation, of the Enclave, flew through his head. Oskar knew of one way to deal with his emotional turmoil that didn't involve going into Ponyville and risking… _something,_ and that was drowning himself in work. So that was what Oskar was going to do for foreseeable future; drown himself in so much work he couldn't spare the time to feel distress over the current situation with Twilight.

With that, Oskar continued on his way into the cavern city he had yet to name properly, destination set on one of many workshops.

**ALPHA**

Two days later found Oskar on the surface in a workshop built by the Diamond Dogs, something he had not ordered them to do. Which the Evolved considered good, since letting the former slaves that made up his newborn secret nation decide to do certain things without his order was beneficial for them. Besides, some Diamond Dogs did actually prefer to work on projects out under the sun, rather than continue working deep under the earth where noise was harsher thanks to the enclosed spaces.

He had a pile of various machine parts set before him on a table. He had made the parts himself after some hours of careful planning and designing, both mental and on blue design paper.

Carefully going over his plans, both in his mind and scrawled down on the blue paper in his hands, Oskar then nodded his head in satisfaction, content that everything should fit as was designed. He then leaned over the parts and brought up screws and pieces of soldering metal he gathered up himself. He then set to work, putting pieces together with screws and welding others via Nidhogg's superheated fire breath sized down significantly.

Oskar worked quickly and efficiently, far faster than any normal person could, and after ten minutes was already done putting together his project and was now waiting for it to cool done to be used. The object on the crafting table before him was a cylinder with some odd shapes protruding out one end and a piston connected to a wheel on the other.

Nodding in satisfaction, Oskar then turned around and walked over to two barrels in the corner of the shop. Quickly transfiguring some scrap metal into two cups, Oskar popped the lids of both barrels magically. He then dipped the two cups inside each barrel and both came up filled with the barrels' content, one filled with a black liquid and the other clear and almost water like.

Replacing the lids on the barrels, Oskar walked back to his freshly made machine and touched it to check its temperature. Feeling it was cool enough to be safely used, Oskar carefully poured the clear liquid into one of two canisters on the side of the engine and the black liquid into the other.

With that, Oskar then took a step back and tapped the machine on one of its more pointed protrusions, his finger releasing a small bolt of electricity.

The reaction was near instant, with a screech of metal that ended soon after the piston of the little machine started moving and turned the wheel it was attached to, causing Oskar to smile lightly.

Staring down at his tiny combustion engine, Oskar couldn't help but feel he could have made better despite just starting out, but quickly reminded himself that this engine wasn't for his benefit, but for the dogs. It was a proof of concept to show the more crafty Dogs that engines along the lines of the small one before him was more than possible and had the potential to be just as great as even the most advanced, rare and prestigious magical ones Equestria possessed. Refining the crude oil and natural gas into its more refined and engine ready version was a bit of a hassle currently, but Oskar hoped to be able to make an organic analogue later on down the road.

Thoughts of Equestria's magical train engines made Oskar frown thoughtfully. While the trains didn't run purely on magic and used a combination of heat and fire rubies to generate kinetic energy to move the train forward, it made the Evolved wonder if there was a version of such an engine that ran on pure magic power. While it would likely entail developing some form of recharging them easily and end up replacing the combustion engines when he just started trying to implicate them, they still would be incredibly better considering how much magic Oskar now had in his possession.

It was then that there was a knock at the door.

"Come in!" Oskar called out as he continued staring at his little engine.

Entering into the workshop was a golden retriever Diamond Dog, specifically the one Oskar had corrected on gun safety when she had presented her personally made rifle to him dangerously. The Dog stared a moment at the little moving machine on the table before directing her attention on Oskar.

"Hello boss!" she said cheerfully. "Me and the other gunsmiths have finished the new gun you told us about! We are about to demonstrate it now and want you there to see it!"

"Hmm, sounds interesting," Oskar commented, reaching over to the canister of the small engine holding the gas and cutting the fuel, making it grind to a halt soon after. "Any chance of you telling me just what gun was made?"

"Nope!" she answered cheerfully with a sharp toothed smile. "Just have to come see for yourself."

"Alright, lead the way," Oskar said.

"Right this way, boss!"

The two exited the workshop and walked out into the outdoors, the midday sun shining down on them from overhead. The tunnel entrance leading down to the cavern city and the mess of rail tracks before it was nearby.

The two then made for a nearby treeline, specifically the one leading to the nearby ravine Oskar intended to one day use for a hydroelectric dam if his power needs ever reached that far. They soon arrived at said ravine, and beside it was a large cleared area that had a shooting range set up in it. Down floating serenely in the ravine was the repurposed air freighter Oskar had used to raid Cloudsdale, the Great Fox.

At the shooting range was a large number of Diamond Dogs. Most were observers, but one was standing at the ready at the shooting range and fiddling with something he was holding.

'_Hmm… now that I am thinking about it, we are clearing quite a few areas for our own use,'_ Oskar thought with a frown as he stared at the churned and packed down ground. _'The Timber Spirit didn't like it when the ponies started doing that at the fringes of his domain, so I doubt he would appreciate us doing it in the heart of it. Although unlike the ponies, we respect the cycle nature has for itself here and don't intend to control it in any way, and have only cleared a few football fields worth of land; not all that much. Plus we have stopped hunting vast swathes of animals to feed ourselves and have started growing the wild vegetables for some variation in our diet. And he knows I am sympathetic to his situation, so he must be willing to tolerate a bit before becoming angry. Even so, we should keep from using too much surface space. We are a subterranean nation after all, so most if not all of our infrastructure will be underground.'_

"Boss?" the golden retriever DD questioned.

"Just thinking of something that might be a problem unless curtailed soon," Oskar stated. "Let's get on with this demonstration."

"Show the boss the new handgun," one of the observers called out, and the dog doing the demonstration turned towards Oskar and presented his gun.

It was a revolver, and a rather large one at that. It was understandable, considering how big the hands of the Diamond Dogs were, meaning a human sized revolver would have been awkward for them to use at the best of times. The entirety of the gun was bigger than a human one, but special consideration was made for the handle and trigger of gun. The strong arm and upper body strength of the Diamond Dogs meant they were more than fully capable of using what a human would consider a small cannon as a handgun with easily manageable recoil.

The demonstrator then popped the magazine cylinder of the revolver and started placing in bullets into each hole. Once fully loaded, the Diamond Dog dramatically spun the cylinder before snapping the cylinder into place with a flick of his hand. Oskar couldn't help his smile at that. The demonstrator then aimed down the shooting range, causing every dog in range not wearing ear protection to cover their ears in preparation.

After aiming for a few seconds, the demonstrator let off all six rounds in slow careful shots, ensuring each one landed within the target on the thin plywood in the distance.

There was a short round of applause as all the gunsmiths present celebrated the brand new gun design they made being used for the first time without any issues.

"Fantastic work," Oskar praised, adding his own light applause to everyone else's. "You have all made immense progress, making improvements on the current bolt action design and making your first new gun design purely by your own decision to do so. At the rate you all are going, we should be able to mass produce full automatic weaponry roughly around the end of this year, and that will be very exciting alongside this other project I have going. Before I show it to any of you, I want to have all of my options checked out first though, so keep working at making better guns."

"Now, uhhh…" Oskar turned towards the golden retriever DD and frowned when he tried to recall a name.

"My friends call me Missy, boss!" 'Missy' told him happily.

"Right, Missy can you go find Belvedere for me?" Oskar asked. "Tell him I need to talk to him about something important. I'll be back at the workshop you found me in."

"Right away boss!" Missy said and took off at a sprint.

Oskar stared after the eager Diamond Dog for a moment before beginning to walk back to the workshop he left his little engine in.

'_Now… with a little bit of work I can make organic analogues to gas and oil with my own biomass, even automate such a process by creating something along the lines of the meat trees,' _Oskar thought. _'But the only thing I have in large quantities is magic, and incredible amounts of magic can be stored in high quality gems. A couple gems that can fit in your pocket can easily outpace having a few jerry cans worth of fuel stored on board a vehicle… I __**think**__. All I have to go on is my very admittedly limited knowledge of runic circuitry to compare to what I know of combustion engines. For all I know, a purely magical engine could provide substantially less kinetic energy for movement than a combustion engine, or even an electrical one. I could track down someone who knows a lot in runes to make an educated comparison, and I really should. The problem, however, is that most people who are rune specialist tend to be well known in their social circles, making taking one a rather bothersome affair… speaking of which, I suppose I could sort of lure one away for a while. My pony form is rather attractive and I could use that to my advantage, seduce one and draw him away on some 'vacation' where I can… you know what? This is a horrible idea and I feel horrible for having even thought of it in the first place.'_

'_I still need to figure out what to do though…' _Oskar frowned as he tried to think up a solution. _'What to do, what to do… I suppose I can delve into Silver Light's memories again, see if he can recall anything about any graduates out of the Artificer Academy or Artificers in general, but it feels like I drained his memories dry of all useful information. Still, best to make sure.'_

With that, Oskar plunged into the depths of Silver's stolen memories. The Evolved went through countless memories that had even the slightest hint of something about runic circuitry and Artificer ponies. It was a drawn out, tedious affair and was proving to be more and more fruitless with every memory. He was about to call it quits when he managed to happen upon something interesting. Something about a pair of brothers who had dropped out of the Academy, despite their incredible potential for so much more, and ended up going into an utterly disappointing field of work.

'_Well, Silver Light still manages to remain useful even after this long,' _Oskar thought in surprise as he reached the shop.

"Oskar?" Oskar heard from some distance behind him.

Turning around, he saw Belvedere fast approaching with Missy a short distance behind him.

"You asked for me boss?" Belvedere said as he came to a stop in front of Oskar.

"Yes, I need you and some of your best trackers to hunt down two unicorn salesponies for me," Oskar said.

"Alright, we'll get right on it Boss," Belvedere said. "Do you have anything like names or other details to help find them?"

"I've got their names. Flim and Flam," Oskar answered.

**BETA**

Four days later, Oskar was still awaiting news of success from Belvedere's hunting packs and kept himself busy while he waited. Currently he was outside again, sitting cross-legged in the grass under the afternoon sun; some of his blueprints were hovering in the air before him as he studied them intently. One was of a small train engine with an exposed control cabin and the other appeared to be a much more useful looking engine.

Whisper Wind was present as well, lying on her back a short distance away and staring up at the clouds with a gloomy expression on her face and letting out a sigh every few moments. Beside her was a half empty bowl of diced up vegetables that had been dipped in her daily medicine.

"Lucky thing…" Whisper muttered as she watched a small bird dart through the air, her voice quiet enough that Oskar would have missed it had his hearing not been so powerful.

Oskar frowned as he shot Whisper a look out of the corner of his eyes. Her gloominess was easily ignored, but it was still irritating to have her saying every few seconds while he was busy working. A thoughtful look flashed across Oskar's face for a moment before he gave a shrug and snapped his fingers.

Whisper gasped as her wing clamp suddenly clicked and popped open, leaving her wings exposed to the air for the first time in months. She turned her wide eyes to Oskar and just stared at him for a moment.

"Just stay in sight," Oskar said, barely sparing her a glance.

"THANK YOU!" Whisper shouted joyfully and leapt at him, wrapping her forelegs around him in a hug before giving him a large kiss on the cheek. She then immediately bolted into the air with a deafening cheer.

Oskar looked after Whisper with a small smile as she darted through the air madly before returning his attention to his blueprints. The Evolved altered his plans and expanded on them as time went by, fixing what he saw as errors and making improvements he could make. It was a short ten minutes later when Whisper Wind came fluttering down onto the ground next to him, panting in exhaustion.

"Ahhh… my wings aren't so good anymore…" Whisper panted in disappointment, but still had a large smile on her face. "It's been months since I've used them, so they're weak."

"Figured that would be the case," Oskar stated somewhat absently as he erased a part of his blueprints and quickly drew something else in its place. "Give it a few weeks and you should be able to work your flying stamina back up."

"Oh, well thanks for your concern," Whisper replied sarcastically to her jailor before edging herself next to him. "What in Equestria are you drawing anyway? That one looks like some sort of weird train engine and the other… what is that?"

"What I am making is a better steam engine than the ramshackle ones we currently have," Oskar answered as he studied the blueprints intently. "The other is going to be a bigger and more useful engine."

"What? What kind of engine?" Whisper asked in utter boredom as she rolled over onto her back and stared up at Oskar. "Steam?"

"No, something else," Oskar answered with a sly smile.

Anything that might have been said between jailor and prisoner was interrupted by the sudden arrival of a geared up Warhound.

"Boss! Hunter teams are back!" she shouted as she neared the two.

"Great," Oskar stated as he rolled the plans up and placed them under an arm and stood. "I assume Belvedere is waiting for me in the command center, right?"

"Yeah boss," the Warhound answered.

"Right, you," Oskar began, pointing at Whisper Wind. "You can stay up here and exercise your wings. I don't need to remind you not to try to run away, right?"

"Yeah yeah, whatever," Whisper said with a dismissive wave of her hoof. "Just go see what your dogs are up to."

Oskar wordlessly teleported at that and arrived in the command center down in the cavern city. Belvedere was standing over a table with a map on it, marking out some places with pins and tying string between them.

"Hello boss," Belvedere said, glancing at him briefly before returning his attention to the map of Equestria on the table. "We found your two unicorns."

"Great," Oskar said as he approached the table himself.

"The hunters tracked the two down via word of mouth for a while," Belvedere said, pointing at each marked spot with pins connecting to other pins via the string tied around each. "Following stories about two unicorns with a sense of drama and showponyship, sometimes getting run out of town when they oversold their product just a bit too much. Eventually they were tracked down to the outskirts of this town down south of the Everfree near the frontier border of Equestria. They've been staying here for the past few months. The younger brother, Flim, goes into town every week to pick up metal parts they've ordered and brings them to a rundown warehouse outside town. From what we have seen, they appear to be putting together a machine of some sort inside, but we've never been able to get close enough to find for sure, and there is always at least one brother in the warehouse itself so we have never been able to explore it."

"Thank your hunters for me Belvedere," Oskar said with a nod. "I'll handle the rest from here."

"Alright," Belvedere said and began to walk away but paused after a few steps. "What do you intend to do with these unicorns?"

"I intend to kidnap them by myself and 'acquire' their services," Oskar answered truthfully

"And why do you want to do it alone?" Belvedere asked. "As powerful and skilled as you are, having backup is always a good idea."

"It's because of the promise," Oskar replied. "I promised to make all of you more than just thieves and slavers. I have fulfilled that promise and it wouldn't do to go back on it by having you help me kidnap two people."

"Well I would agree, except for one fact." Belvedere stated, walking back to the table. "You have fulfilled your promise and no longer have to abide by it. This is your nation and you are our leader, and as our leader we would want to help you accomplish your goals, especially when your goals always work towards bettering our people as a whole. Even as small and few in number as we are, I'm not even sure if the original Diamond Dog nation can compare to what you have made. Long story short, we want to help our Boss no matter what he intends to do."

"Well… honestly I don't know how to feel about this … only, thank you Belvedere," Oskar said with a smile and a nod. "Now come here, this should be a simple smash and grab."

"What's the plan, boss?" Belvedere asked and leaned in close.

**GAMMA**

Flim hummed one of the many tunes he and his brother made to help sell merchandise, making his way through a lightly wooded area with tall sundried grass. In tow behind him was a trailer full of scrap metal and various parts he had managed to haggle down for cheap. Although the parts were still expensive because of the mere fact they had to be ordered in and were taking up a large chunk of the funds, they saved up selling merchandise in various towns.

Money was not an issue currently, however. He and his brother were still going to live rather comfortably in the following months despite the drain. Plus, once he and his brother were done putting everything together, they had no doubts at all that the machine would be paying for itself in no time, giving them that minimum effort, high payout job they always wanted. They already had a good idea of where to go to demonstrate the quality of their work. Sweet Apple Acres, home of the best apple cider in the whole kingdom. If their product could compete with that, they could compete with anyone.

Despite his musings, Flim was able to spot movement out of the corner of his eyes. Off in the trees and in some of the thicker patches of grass, dark shapes had briefly been seen by the unicorn. Flim paused for a moment and frowned in consternation for a moment, his head whipped around when he had managed to glimpse more movement, but not quick enough to actually see anything. His anxious frown turned angry when a thought occurred to him. Could it have been possible one of the ponies in town had found out about what he and brother had been secretly construction within the cover of the old warehouse they had bought, and were trying to spy on them in order to make a cheap knockoff for their own profit?

Flim became very guarded and glared out at his surroundings before picking up the pace. He and his brother knew enough about business that, in all likelihood, their machine would only bring them a few years of easy money, and then other technological minded ponies would be appearing on the market with their own cheaply made copies. They were both fine with it, but they preferred that period of easy profit to be as long as possible.

Before long, the rusted and slightly ramshackle warehouse Flim and his brother were staying in appeared through the foliage and the unicorn took off at a run towards it. Stopping before the door, Flim quickly brought up a hoof and started hammering on the door.

"Brother! Brother come on, open the door!" Flim called out as he continued banging on the door.

Before long the door opened and a confused, though worried, Flam opened it and Flim quickly darted in, rapidly unhitching the trailer and running back to the door and slamming the door closed.

Inside the place was fairly dirty. Scrap metal and near unidentifiable machine parts littered the place. Along one wall, lit up by magical lanterns, was a wall covered in many dirty blueprints. Off in the corner were a pair of sleeping bags and sitting right in the middle of the warehouse was a large half built machine. It had a train's scoop on the front and a pair of wagon wheels along with a smaller metal pair of wheels near the back. Drab gray metal plating covered some of the intricate machinery within, but most of it was exposed. Near the machine were buckets of red and black paint, obviously the colors the brothers intended to paint their machine in. Sitting in an orderly pile nearby was also a red couch with large tubes and pipes leaning against it.

"Flim! Brother of mine, what is the matter?" Flam asked with increased worry.

"I dare say I was followed Flam!" Flim answered in a harsh whisper as he opened the steel door slightly to peek out.

"What? Why would anypony follow you Flim?" Flam asked in confusion, but soon narrowed his eyes. "Unless…"

"YES!" Flim shouted as he abruptly turned around and ran towards the half built machine, stopping before it. "Somepony plans to steal the idea for our machine! Our monopoly would only last a year if we are lucky! All of our hard work for an easy life would go down the drains, Flam!"

"You're right brother of mine!" Flame replied as he shot suspicious glances to his surroundings. "We have to very careful now! From now on, only one of us can be asleep here in the warehouse and one of us has to be in here at all times. We must protect our designs from being stolen and copied!"

"Sound strategy, Flam!" Flim began and then pondered the problem they faced deeply. "Now we-"

Suddenly the ground underneath the two unicorns shook and rumbled ominously.

Flam barely had time to react to the ground giving way under Flim and steel clad arms reaching up to pull him down when the same happened to him. He felt himself falling and was caught by something hard. He felt paws and claws on his coat and heard his brothers muffled cries when they were suddenly ended. He found out the reason why when he felt a harsh blow to the back of his head.

"Good work Padfoot," Flam heard a voice say as his mind whirled into darkness. "Bring them to the cell, the rest of you get up there and start…"

Flam heard no more as he lost consciousness.

**DELTA**

Rarity sighed contently as she finally finished her morning ritual and did one last look over of herself in the mirror.

It had been over a week since Twilight, Spike and Owlicious had moved in and honestly, Rarity had expected things to be much more different than they turned out to be. She was expecting needing to do things a bit differently with sharing her personal space with two friends and another pet, but other than giving Spike some of her spare gems as food and buying feed for Owliscious, not much else changed. She had expected stacks of books and scrolls to start piling up a few days after Twilight moved in, if not the moment she did, but that never happened. There was a book on a table and a scroll here and there, but nowhere in the sheer quantities Rarity expected. Quite frankly, Rarity was growing very concerned for her fellow unicorn.

Incidentally, this brought up thoughts of another fellow unicorn she had grown to consider _very_ near and dear in the year she had known her. Emerald hadn't contacted anyone ever since she took that timely road trip over a week ago, and while Rarity knew she shouldn't worry for the mare, as she was more than capable of taking care of herself, she just couldn't help it. Some part of her always got worked up whenever Emerald was involved, whether it was worrying over her figure, her health, her safety or just bring proud of her. Rarity just couldn't help but feel this way about her and she just couldn't figure out why. Truth be told, Rarity didn't mind acting this way towards Emerald and neither did said mare, so the unicorn wasn't in any great hurry at all to curb such behavior.

'_Well, now that I think about it, Twilight's worrying behavior coincides with Emerald going on that trip,'_ Rarity thought as she left her bedroom. _'Did something happen between them? Is that the reason Emerald went on a road trip without warning? It doesn't seem like her to run away from her problem though… and Spike would have told me if something did happen. I really shouldn't try to make up stories should I? But what could have done this, make Twilight act this way and make Emerald leave without so much as a by your leave?'_

The glamorous unicorn walked as she pondered the riddle before her and soon found herself in her studio where she made the dresses. Off to the side, Twilight was sitting on Rarity's large, lavish couch and reading a newspaper, looking rather upset as she did so.

'_Oh my, what ever could be the issue?'_ Rarity thought and walked over, coming to a stop beside Twilight and leaning over to read the section Twilight was looking at.

**THE POST-GRAY FOX WORLD**

Equestria continues to struggle through the minor recession that plagues it's citizenry, caused single hoofedly by the infamous King of Thieves, The Gray Fox. While everypony continues to hold their breath in wait for the next and just as society damaging theft, we here at the News Nag have gotten word from sources within the Royal Guard itself that the Gray Fox's thefts ended with one last break in at the palace library. Yes, our readers would be surprised to know that there was another theft after the Gray Fox's near destabilising raid on Cloudsdale. According to our sources and research, the chaos from the masses of escaped prisoners still on the loose, the weather shortage, the closing of several major goods suppliers to thousands of ponies losing their jobs, has caused our fellows in the news to overlook this somewhat low key crime.

During a press conference, Princess Celestia answered several questions on how she and her royal sister will work towards reversing Equestria's economic turmoil. The answer was to further government spending. Public works are to be started in earnest, providing jobs and wages for those who lost them. On the subject of the Gray Fox, the Princess answered that the Gray Fox has not made any further appearances since his last theft, and it is too soon to say there is a possibility that the King of Thieves will trouble Equestria no more. Captain Shining Armor of the Royal Guard answered the next question himself, on the subject of chasing down the Gray Fox down the Diamond Dog tunnels like they had before when rescuing slaves, stating that chasing down the Gray Fox was different then rescuing slaves. For one, the Gray Fox has appeared to have withdrawn all the packs under his command to their unknown base of operations. Second ,the fact is the tunnels are the Diamond Dogs' home and they know them intimately, making any large incursion into them a massive slog. Third and final is the fact the Gray Fox has personally trained the slaving thugs into a competent military force, making their numbers far more serious than before. All in all, Equestria needs to recover from its current troubles before even contemplating chasing down the Gray Fox and making him pay for his crimes.

Rarity glanced over at Twilight who continued to read the newspaper in front of her, her face a mask of guilt and depression. Rarity wondered why at first, glancing between the violet unicorn and the newspaper several times before getting an idea.

"Twilight, darling?" Rarity asked.

"Huh wha?!" Twilight jumped in surprise, seemingly being so focused on the newspaper she didn't notice Rarity arrive. "Oh hello Rarity, how can I help you?"

"Darling, you shouldn't blame yourself," Rarity said.

"Wha-what?" Twilight said, her eyes widening.

"You don't know if you could have been any help with the Gray Fox," Rarity stated, oddly making Twilight immediately calm down. "We've never had any experience with hunting down master criminals. Sure we have been in a few fights, but the Gray Fox has been in so much more. It's more likely we would have gotten in the way than contribute anything meaningful to the task."

"Oh… yes definitely!" Twilight said with a wide forced smile. "HA HA HA! Yeah, we couldn't have been able to do anything at all, much better to just stay here and mind our business, yep!"

"As long as you realise that darling." Rarity smiled softly. "Have you heard anything from Emerald yet? I know I shouldn't, but I worry about her."

"Umm… no, I haven't…" Twilight started. "You… you shouldn't worry though, because I am absolutely certain only the very worst of things could give Emerald pause. She did go into Everfree by herself and came out safe and sound, right?"

"Yes she did." Rarity nodded with a frown before smiling lightly. "And she isn't going to be going anywhere dangerous this time, surely. She's likely just going on a short trip around Equestria out of nostalgia for her days as a travel pony."

"Ye-yes… probably," Twilight said with a strained smile and turned her attentions back to her newspaper.

"Well… I'll leave you be Twilight," Rarity said and began to leave. "Try not to fret too much about events in the paper, alright? Things will get better, just you wait."

"Right…" Twilight replied softly and turned the page to read the rest of the article. A number of quotes from victims of the recession covered the page and Twilight picked one at random.

"The factory I worked at couldn't cover the costs for replacing everything and stay in business. Me, my wife and everypony else who worked there were laid off. My wife and I had just started our family and got our home a few years ago. We had a bit saved up from our job at the factory, but it just wasn't enough for anything more than a few months of bills and rent. We cut costs by going to the park for grass instead of getting better food from the grocery store. It still would have been bad with the current job market though. Lucky for us, our landlord was generous enough to waive a couple of our rent payments… can't say the same for any of any of the others that used to work at the factory. Sometimes I pass by a few of them on the street trying to get by-

Twilight couldn't bear to read anything more after that and put the newspaper down as a single tear ran down her cheek. She quickly wiped it away and looked around to make sure no one saw it before lying down on her side, guilt ridden expression clear to the world.

Thoughts rushed through the unicorn's head about all the ponies that are suffering because of the Gray Fox's actions… because of Emerald. At the same time she remembered all the times she spent with Emerald, the happy times, the sad times and the angry ones.

'_Why do things have to be so complicated?' _Twilight thought in dismay, memories of Nightmare Moon in her mind and how she was very clearly a villain that needed to be stopped. _'She isn't a villain, she's my friend… but she did so much ev-bad things… I came here to learn what having friends is like, but what do you do when your friend is a bad pony?'_

'…_you make it sound like I'm some perfect being… but I'm not. I know I'm not, Twilight. I've had to go through so much to get where I am today…' _memories whispered. _'…Yeah… a monster… that describes me…'_

'_Dear Celestia, what do I do?!' _Twilight despaired. _'Do I tell everpony and betray my friend, or keep the secret and betray everypony else?! Ohhhhh, what do I do…'_

Looking around the room, Twilight saw the pile of parchment she would use to send messages via Spike's fire. For the longest moment, Twilight had the urge to get up and walk over to them, then with a shake of her head she turned over on the couch.

**EPSILON**

Oskar sat on a stone bench down in the cavern city, reading one of the books he had stolen from Princess Celestia, specifically one about runic circuitry. Belvedere sat beside him reading off reports in crude writing off a notepad.

"So how goes interrogating the unicorns?" Belvedere asked.

"It is going smoothly, though a bit slowly," Oskar replied. "As long as things continue as they are, there won't be any problems in eventually releasing the two when their usefulness runs out. By the way… you remember what I said about wanting to get the independent clans to live here in the Enclave as well a while ago? I think it's time we started working towards doing that. Do you know where a few of them could be found?"

"Nidhogg never really bothered with them," Belvedere answered with a frown. "He was content with the slaves he had, so we know where most if not all of them are. The problem, however, is convincing them that this isn't some trick to bring them to heel under Nidhogg."

"Hmm… leave that to me," Oskar said with a frown as he continued reading his book. "I'm sure I can figure out something that will make them to give us a chance to prove ourselves. Get some Warhounds together; we're going on a road trip to one of these packs."

"Right boss," Belvedere replied as he got off his seat and left to do as commanded.

'_What to do, what to do…' _Oskar thought as he read his book. _'Never really had to use diplomacy before… I either stole or used force for what I needed. And unless I want to turn out to be just as bad as Nidhogg, I'm going to have go with diplomacy… well, this certainly is going to be a learning experience one way or the other.'_

**ZETA**

Several hours later found a small company of Warhounds marching along a tunnel, far from the ones they mined gems from. It was the first time anyone had traveled this far in the deep tunnels for a long time and it showed via the dust lacking the pounded down look from constant use. The fact this tunnel lead back to Nidhogg's former lands may have had something to do with its lack of use.

Soon the company found itself arriving at an opening leading out into a wide open cavern. They didn't know what to expect really. Being Diamond Dogs, they spotted the various sentry holes in the wall along the tunnel they took and knew that the independent dogs knew they were coming. However upon walking out into the open of the cavern nothing happened. Off at the far end of the cavern was a collection of stone and metal homes that looked noticeably better than the ones that were being built back in the Enclave.

"**RRRRRAAAAAAAGH!**" A loud bellow came from above and the collective Warhounds only had enough time to look up and see a white streak fall down towards them from a hole in the ceiling.

"If you were huntin trouble lads, ya found it!" came a shout with a noticeable Scottish accent as the white shape landed amongst the Warhounds and was quickly followed by the sounds of yelping and metal banging.

The Warhounds not being attacked had a hard time telling just what was attacking them but from the fact they couldn't see it over the heads of their fellows, and the fact that dogs started to drop as soon as it arrived, they could tell it was small and dangerous.

"How's that feel, ya blockhead!" came a shout from within the melee following a loud, painful clang. "Ohhhhh that smarts doesn't it?!"

Just then, the fight seemed to end with a startled shout. The Warhounds pulled back from where the combat had been happening and revealed several warhounds on the ground groaning in pain, and a small white terrier Diamond Dog floating in mid-air surrounded by a crimson aura, a fairly large iron staff that ended in two spiked balls was clasped firmly in one of his paws. He wore a red beret like cap on his head and unlike the Diamond Dogs when they were slaves, he wore more clothing than a simple vest. On his arms was a pair of hard leather bracers that had fingerless gloves. He wore a long sleeved green and red coat that was buttoned up to his neck and hung down to his knees, while over the coat he wore a heavily engraved iron cuirass buckled in place.

"Well… that was certainly a show," Oskar stated, hand aloft and glowing crimson, as he made his and Belvedere's presence known. "I assume you are one of the Alphas in charge of this place, right?"

"I ain't telling ya nothing ya lizard loving girl!" the diminutive Diamond Dog spat an insult at Oskar. "Let me go and I'll show ya how much your fancy magic matters when I club ya in the head ya wee little-"

Suddenly the Diamond Dogs snout was surrounded by a crimson aura and forced closed, leaving him mumbling no doubt heinous insults and threats though his magical gag. Oskar approached the floating Diamond Dog, hand still aloft and glowing crimson.

"I would like to inform you that Nidhogg is dead and that the enslaved Diamond Dogs he possessed have been freed," Oskar stated calmly before releasing his magic on the little dog's snout.

"Oh and ya expect me to suddenly believe that loud of trash do ya?" The dog snorted disbelievingly.

"I guess it is a little hard to believe such a huge dragon like Nidhogg could be dead," Oskar said as an intense blue glow started to shine through his chest. "So I'll just show you something interesting."

With that Oskar looked off towards a distant part of the cavern and inhaled sharply. A few seconds later, he exhaled. There was a sharp whine that tore at everyone's ears as a blinding blue light erupted from the virus' mouth and formed a long beam. The beam impacted the far wall near instantly and sliced into it deeply. A few long, nigh unbearable moments later and the beam finally ended, letting everyone see the large glowing spot in the wall that was spilling an alarming amount of molten rock out of it; thankfully it didn't seem nearly enough to threaten the far off Diamond Dog village.

"Tell me," Oskar began, wiping his mouth clean of burning plasma. "Do you think someone like Nidhogg would tolerate the presence of someone who is not only capable of breathing plasma like him, but is resistant to it as well?"

"… The tales say much about the old bat," the little dog said after a moment. "But aye, he don't seem the sort… let me down laddie."

Oskar did just that and softly lowered the diminutive Diamond Dog onto the ground. He then briefly brushed himself off before leaning on his war staff and staring up at Oskar.

"So… is the old scaly buzzard really dead?" the little dog asked, hope bleeding into his voice.

"I promise he really is," Oskar said and after a moment added. "Talk is cheap though, I can have his bones dug up and brought here as proof."

"Aye you do that laddie," the dog said, pointing a finger at Oskar. "I'll have some elders here from the other packs that can identify Nidhogg even in death. Once we have the proof, we'll listen to what ya have to say, alright?"

"Sounds like a plan," Oskar said and went about helping his injured Warhounds back onto their feet. "What is this, like the third time you were laid out by something barely a third of your size?"

"Ugh, the first time didn't count boss and you know it." Padfoot groaned as he stood back up and stretched out a stitch in his back.

"They ain't half bad," the short dog half complimented as he made his way back to the village in the distance. "My compliments to their trainer laddie!"

"Well that was interesting," Belvedere commented as he walked over to Oskar. "So are we heading back?"

"Yeah, get a large group together and start digging up the cavern Nidhogg was living in. Hold still." Oskar said as he injected several dogs with healing accelerants and painkillers via a tendril. "Once we do that, we'll head back here with it… considering the size of the bones and how big the tunnels are, we may need to do some quick expansion along the way."

"Not a problem, boss," Belvedere stated. "We are Diamond Dogs after all."

"Great. Alright, everyone ready?" Oskar asked, looking all around him. "I'm going to be teleporting all of us back. In three… three, two, one!"

With that the entire company of Diamond Dogs, along with Oskar and Belvedere, disappeared in a flash.

**ETA**

Flam sighed as he stared up at the plain gray ceiling above him. He and his brother were in a fairly large but barren stone room, a corner with a small hole as a toilet, a simple wooden table with two chairs and two somewhat soft beds. The two had been there for who knows how long, as they had not seen the sun since they were captured. In fact, they had not even seen what their captors looked like or even heard from them, as they slipped their food through a thin slot near the bottom of the solid looking steel door of their prison.

Both Flim and Flam were quite disheveled looking after spending several days without washing up or changing the few articles of clothing they wore. Spending so long in the same space with little to nothing to do all day was grating on the brothers' nerves and sanity as well. They tended to explode on each other rather easily and were getting twitchy from the lack of space to really stretch their legs. At the very least the food or drinks weren't bland though. They always got a large mix of fruits and vegetables as well as various juices for them to consume.

One thing the brothers absolutely dreaded about their imprisonment however was the _visits_. Every day the lights in their room would flicker off and their door would open. Normally the brothers would take the chance to use their magic to escape, but after the first attempt and the following retaliation they didn't risk it again. When the door opened, someone or something entered their room in the darkness and would lay _something_ atop their heads. Intense agonizing headaches would soon follow. The worst part about these visits was the fact they could last for _hours_ at times, and that was a long time for someone to be suffering intense pain. The odd thing about these torturous visits though was that during them the brothers couldn't help but think about their time in the academy and all they learned while experimenting with their knowledge in the field.

Currently the two unicorns were lying in bed and dreading every moment of silence. The reason being that it had been a long time since their last visit and the next one was likely going to happen any minute now.

Sure enough, there was a click as the lights went off and a quiet metallic shriek from their prison door opening in the darkness. The two brothers groaned and braced themselves for the oncoming pain, wondering just how long they were going to suffer this time.

The two waited for the feeling of something soft being placed atop their heads. They waited, and waited, and waited, and…

Flam yawned as he woke up to the sounds of birds singing and wind blowing through the grass. The unicorn snapped his eyes open when he grasped the sounds he just heard and bolted upright.

All around him were small groves of trees and wide open grass fields with flowers dotting them. Birds and bugs darted through the air, either singing their songs or buzzing. Flam stared at his surroundings almost uncomprehendingly when he heard a groan from beside him. When he turned to see his brother waking up was when Flam finally noticed the pounding in his head and the foul taste in his mouth.

"What is this?" Flim asked as Flam groaned in pain and started spitting in an attempt to rid himself of the foul taste. "Is this a dream?"

"Last I heard, dreams don't hurt or taste bad," Flam commented and noticed something else about their surroundings, namely a large brown sack next to them.

Getting up on somewhat wobbly legs, Flam approached the bag cautiously. Upon closer inspection the lumpy sack had a small note attached close to its mouth. Plucking the note off the bag, Flam saw nothing to see who it was addressed to and opened it.

_Flim and Flam_

_In the bag is compensation for your service, added to your fee is compensation for all hardship, emotional and otherwise during your stay with us, as well as payment for all lost hardware._

_Regards_

_T.E._

Blinking at the note, the brothers looked at each other briefly before looking at the bag. Flim approached it and quickly undid the rope around it's mouth. Inside was a vast collection of bits and rare small gems that glimmered in the daylight sun. Just by looking at the bounty of riches the brothers could tell it was more than enough to cover for all the money they spent making their cider machine three times over.

"Flam?"

"Yes brother of mine?"

"Do you want to just go back to being traveling salesponies?" Flim asked lightly. "It seems like being inventing entrepreneurs is rather hazardous for one's health."

"A more marvelous idea I haven't heard!" Flam replied. "Now… how to get this money to the nearest town? It's rather heavy."

"Hmm…"

**THETA**

Oskar thumbed through a book as he oversaw a large excavation along with several other Diamond Dog Alphas, which he was glad for as his mind was elsewhere currently.

The Evolved was thinking of his incredible success with experimental magic a day ago. He had spent the last few months carefully building up his skill with the new magic he created from knowledge of pony neurology. It was too grand of an achievement in Oskar's eyes. He was fairly certain the ponies could have eventually created what he just invented. However, they would have been _humane_ about it, which Oskar wasn't, and it advanced the development of the spell incredibly. In fact, the Evolved didn't want to think about the sure numbers of animals he had effectively killed via rendering them brain dead with his experiments.

Eventually after months of lethal experimentation on animals, Oskar had declared his memory absorption spell safe enough for use on vital personnel. The spell was still slow going compared to simply eating people though, and required him to use for hours at a time for any significant amount of information. But overall, Oskar still considered it a better alternative than killing people for their knowledge and skill. Sure it was slow now, but given time and practice, he bet he could upgrade it significantly.

So after spending well over a week taking memory after memory from the Flim Flam Brothers, Oskar had managed to attain the skill and knowledge he wanted. Afterwards, he knocked out the two unicorns with some gas and dropped them off along with a large sack of money in a distant location. Oskar was still taking a risk though. The two knew that their kidnappers had ambushed them from beneath the ground and that had Diamond Dog ambush tactics written all over it, which would no doubt notify the Princesses that the Diamond Dogs and by extension the "Gray Fox" were up to something. And speaking of the princesses, Oskar was getting pretty close to reading through all the books he had stolen from their library. Soon he would make good on his promise to return their books to them.

"Oskar?" the virus heard Belvedere say.

"Hmm?" Oskar said looking at the Greyhound Alpha.

"The digging teams have managed to reach Nidhogg's corpse and have set up support struts," Belvedere said, waving at the large tunnel made into the collapsed treasure chamber. "It's a bit slow going though. The rocks and boulders are all still fairly loose and we are going to need more time before we can bring out the bones safely."

"It's no problem," Oskar said, snapping his book closed. "We don't want to lose anyone so take as much time as you need to ensure everything is safe."

"Already done boss," Belvedere said. "Do you really think we can get the independent packs to join us?"

"Frankly, it's a bit of an unlikely result," Oskar replied with a sigh. "Diplomatic negotiation is not one of my many skills. I can make a cold hearted business deal that can make a literal knife to the back preferable, but diplomacy? Well it's certainly going to be touch and go… honestly I am just going to go for pure honesty and hope for the best."

"There is a chance… that any packs that don't join us will inform Equestria of us," Belvedere said with a concerned frown. "And if Equestria manages to find out about us, they will wonder how we are able to make such equipment. They may connect the dots regarding the Gray Fox and his Diamond Dog followers."

"I know it's a risk," Oskar said with a frown of his own. "But I don't feel right buttering these people up in such a way they think we have a paradise waiting for them. I am simply going to present what I have as is and hope for the best. We have a nation and lack the numbers, they have numbers and lack a nation. We both have things the other wants; hopefully they'll see that at least."

"Hmm…" Belvedere's frown stayed firmly in place as he brought up a paw and tapped his chin.

"BOSS! BOSS!" came an alarmed shout down a tunnel.

Oskar turned in time to see a female mastiff Warhound come charging down the tunnel towards him.

"Yes, what is it?" Oskar asked as the Warhound came to a stop before him.

"I don't know, boss!" the Warhound said with a confused shake of her head. "We were scouting the forest edge when a ton of weird stuff started to happen! Animals were changing shape, fruits were growing to huge sizes, clouds turned pink and chocolate milk started raining from the sky!"

"… Right, I have to investigate this myself," Oskar said, teleporting his book back to the room he stored them in. "Hold still. I need to know exactly where you were and this will sting a bit."

Oskar placed a hand atop the Warhounds head and called upon the spell he invented. The Warhound inhaled sharply as her head ached and the memory of the location she had left was copied from her mind. Needing only just one instant of the memory, Oskar ended his spell, causing a surprised look to appear on the Warhound's face when it only stung for a second.

"I'll be back," Oskar said to Belvedere before teleporting.

Oskar arrived on the border of the Everfree just past the outskirts of Ponyville. Not only were there some Warhounds there, who had been rather startled by Oskar's sudden appearance, but a timber wolf was there as well.

Ignoring the Warhounds and the timber wolf, Oskar looked out towards Ponyville and the world outside the Everfree. The Warhound hadn't been exaggerating when she had told him of what she had seen. Animals had indeed been twisted into something else, the clouds looked like cotton candy and were raining chocolate milk down on the world, and off in the distance Oskar could see the apple trees strain under the weight of their now massive fruit.

"When did this start happening?" Oskar asked the nearest dog.

"Half an hour ago, boss," the armored dog answered. "It's been steadily picking up since."

Oskar was about to ask more when he became aware of snarling noises. Turning to the right, he saw the timber wolf shake with barely withheld fury.

"**WRONG, ALL WRONG, UNNATURAL!"** the Spirit possessing the Timber Wolf raged. **"NOT PART OF THE CYCLE! HIS DOING! HIS DOING!"**

"Who?" Oskar asked. "Who did this?"

Suddenly the timber wolf paused in its ranting and looked incredibly confused.

"**What am I talking about? WHO am I talking about?" **the spirit said more to himself then to Oskar. **"Can't remember? Won't remember? Why, why, why…"**

"Right, he's not being too helpful." Oskar commented and turned his attention to the chaotic world before him. He narrowed his eyes and looked upon Canterlot in the distance. "If anyone should even have the slightest idea of what is happening, it's the princesses. Wait here and keep observing the situation. I'm going to go spy on the capital."

"Right boss!" the Warhounds said with collective salute.

With that, Oskar teleported in a crimson flash and made his way to Canterlot.

**-TBC-**

AN: And the long awaited sequel to OOTO has arrived! And Discord next chapter! So much action is awaiting everyone, I bet you can barely handle the wait :3

EN: Wow… that's all I can say. Took a bit to come out, but dang if it didn't deliver with even more than I ever expected. And Discord. Oh boy, next chapter is going to be a **treat**. Hope you're all excited about the new turn of events, and I hope you're all thoroughly enjoying the sequel that Legionary has taken his time in masterfully creating. Kudos to him. ~NightmareKnight


	2. Chapter 2: Apotheosis

Oskar kneeled upon a ledge on the side of Mount Canterlot; below him was the capital of Equestria and the palace of the Royal Sisters.

The virus was using his powerful eyesight to spy upon the interior of the palace through the windows, but truth be told he could figure out what was happening just by looking at said windows. He could see a serpentine figure moving through the stained glass windows of the palace, interacting with the figures in the windows and talking with people in the hall itself, who Oskar couldn't recognize as the angle didn't allow him to see. The Evolved was pretty sure of the identity of the dragon like creature moving through the glass. If his nigh perfect photographic memory could be trusted, then the being in the window was Discord.

Discord, a draconequis possessing so much magical power he usurped the throne of Equestria a millennia ago. And now he was back from his stone prison somehow, and very likely both out for revenge and his old position of power.

Oskar stood up from his kneeling position with a nod of his head.

'_Discord huh?' _the Evolved thought. _'Well there isn't really anything I could do here is there? Discord won without a fight the first time and it appears he is going to do it again. The last time he lost was purely thanks to the Elements of Harmony and I'm sure everyone could pull off that victory again couldn't they?'_

Oskar brushed himself off of any little bits of dirt that stuck to him and was about to turn away when he paused and looked back at the palace.

'_I mean, sure I have a lot of power thanks to taking Luna's DNA, and someone else with that kind of power would be incredibly helpful in this situation...' _Oskar rambled internally. _'I would have likely gotten more powerful if I had been able to take Celestia's DNA instead, __**BUT**__ those two alicorns didn't seem to put up any sort of fight until they had the Elements to face Discord with in the past. What does that mean of the power I have now? Very likely that despite how powerful I am now, Discord is SOO much more powerful and that I would be just as helpless as those two are. Yeah, its better I don't get involved and let them do their work… plus it's much less dangerous for me.'_

With that, Oskar turned away from the ledge and walked away until he was out of sight. For several long moments there was silence until suddenly there was the sound of rapid thudding on rock.

"GOD DAMN IT ALL!" Oskar shouted in frustration with himself as he sprinted off the rock ledge. He then quickly formed his blade wings and magically caught the wind.

Oskar spread his wings and angled himself for one of the stained glass windows of the palace before he made himself as streamlined as possible. He dove towards the palace, picking up more and more speed as he went, the window seeming to rush up to him.

**ALPHA**

"Stop stalling, Discord!" Celestia shouted. "What have you done with the Elements of Harmony?"

"Oh, so boring, Celestia, really?" Discord laughed from his position in the stained glass window. "Fine, I'll tell you, but I'll only tell you my _way_."

"Truly a thousand years were not enough to inoculate myself against your _antics,_" Luna drawled in annoyance.

"Ahem, now if I may?" Discord said with a delighted smile as he moved between windows. "_To retrieve your missing Elements, just make sense of this change of events. Twists and turns are my master plan. Then find the Elements back where you_… huh?"

A shadow was suddenly cast over the window Discord was in. He stopped reciting his riddle and turned around in the window to see what was casting it.

To the incredible surprise of both the princesses and the Mane Six, something came bursting through the window Discord was in. The act of the window being shattered seemed to force Discord into his physical form and he was sent flying, a white and silver shape attached to his neck. Discord came crashing into the floor with the white shape attached to him.

Everyone gasped as they took in the thing, or rather the person, that was attached to Discord, who only Luna could recognise. He may have had wings with blades instead of feathers, but he was no different than from what she had seen of him during his dream. The being she had classified as Impius Mutante, Oskar, was here, and he was assaulting Discord.

"GAH!" Discord shouted as he shot up onto his feet. "What is it?! Get it off! GET IT OFF!"

Discord ran around in circles in a pain induced panic as he flailed his arms about and shouted. Oskar had one arm firmly around one of Discords horns and his other arm was shifted into a claw which he was using with great prejudice upon the Draconequis' face.

For several long and awkward moments, the Royal Sisters and the Mane Six stood by and watched as Discord ran around in circles, acting as if he was having a rabid cat clawing at his face instead of a monstrous shape shifting creature. Finally, the Draconequis seemed to remember he had his own magic and teleported, leaving Oskar to fall to the ground as his prey disappeared out from under him.

"My face!" Discord shouted from a short distance away, holding up a hand mirror to his visage. "Look what you have done to my face!"

Scratches covered Discord's face, and not disfiguring gashes. In fact, they could barely even be called scratches and looked to be more like paper cuts. But for the Draconequis, the fact he was hurt at all stuck with him. For countless years, the chaotic being had roamed the world doing as he willed and being subject to no one's rules, and nothing they did could ever hope to make him suffer for it. But now… now someone did manage to hurt him and Discord couldn't help but think about the pain of the claws slicing at his face.

For Oskar, the fact he did so little damage was almost enough for his own despair to make him surrender and beg for mercy. Claws sharps enough to slice apart gems like they were overripe fruit, and what did they manage do on Discord? Give him paper cuts…

'_I-I-I'm not strong enough!' _Oskar thought as he stared at Discord with wide eyes. _'NO ONE IS STRONG ENOUGH! HOW ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO BEAT THAT! Where the hell are the Elements of Harmony and why don't those six have them!? Wait, he can't be that stupid. He wouldn't just attack without dealing with the one thing capable of defeating him… I should have run when I had the chance, I-I should have…'_

Oskar bowed his head in hopelessness when he noticed a curious gleam on one of his claws. Blood… _Discord's_ blood.

Oskar looked between the tiny droplets of crimson blood on his claws and the chaotic being they came from. The virus wasn't stupid. He recalled the last time he had a major power boost; he lost his sanity and lost control over the vast pool of memories within his mind. No doubt the results would be the same in consuming the blood of such an immensely powerful being. But…

'_No matter what happened last time… I didn't hurt you…' _Oskar thought as he glanced at Twilight. _'__**Any**__ of you. I had even saved you despite my own mind being fragmented by all the memories. I must be careful… the last time I had gained so much power the library was destroyed, this one will be much bigger. No matter what… IT ALL HAS TO GO UP!'_

"Look what you did to my beautiful face you mons- huh?" Discord began in anger, turning towards the one that had assaulted him and grew confused at what he saw, a sentiment the other people in the room could share.

Oskar grasped at his shifted arm and bared his teeth in pain. Black tendrils covered the edges of the claws, surging and pulsating.

Oskar fell to his knees as something strange happened to his arm. Veins rapidly appeared, glowing with crimson light as they moved up his arm from his claws. The arm went into spasms as the veins moved onto the shoulder and massive blisters appeared, growing in size rapidly and bursting with a crimson flash when they grew too big. Oskar raised his afflicted arm and punched the floor.

With that strike, two things happened. The sheer force behind the strike cracked the floor and seemed to make the entire palace shake, and Oskar's arm half exploded in a spray of gore and half vaporised in a flash of light. Almost the instant Oskar lost his arm, he gained a new one. It was massive and was obviously too big for him, grossly muscled and covered in black scales that sheened red in the light. The new arm ended in a massive hand that ended in three long, thick talon-like fingers.

As the glowing veins reached the core of his body, they suddenly started spreading like mad. Blisters appeared alongside the incandescent veins and after bursting they would be rapidly replaced by thick, large scales.

Oskar growled as half his body seemed to start vaporizing in bursts of crimson light. He brought his reformed arm back up and brought it down again, cracking the floor further and even making an indent. A rage seemed to strike Oskar and he brought his mutated fist against the floor again and again, shaking the palace and creating a larger indent. Then, with one final earth shaking strike, Oskar punched the floor with all his might and ended up creating a large crater in the floor.

The Evolved dry heaved with every breath as he fell onto his hands and knees, his own body still undergoing immense changes on the genetic level.

"E-Oskar?" Twilight said cautiously.

Oskar then looked up towards the ceiling. His eyes were orbs of crimson light and his mouth was open in a silent scream. With a sudden blinding flash of light, no one could see anything.

**BETA**

The ponies of Canterlot tried to continue going about their daily lives despite the chocolate milk rain and cotton candy clouds. However it became next to impossible when a massive beam of crimson light exploded out of the roof of the palace, even more so when every unicorn in Canterlot gasped and fell to the ground unconscious.

Earth ponies and pegasi shuddered as they felt a presence close in around them, a presence that felt like blind confused rage and fear. It pressed down on them like a weight.

The sky above turned red, and there was a blast of energy that dispersed every cloud in its wake. Cloudsdale, city or not, was made of clouds and fared no better. Shapes rained down from its dispersing remains; whether they were pegasi currently incapable of flight or the various devices they had up there, no one could tell.

The beam of crimson light continued to soar into the sky. From Vanhoover to Manehattan, ponies could see its ominous glow from practically every point of Equestria. Down in the Everfree, the Diamond Dogs watched on from their place on the forest border, the Timber Spirit beside them.

"**Something strange is happening…" **the spirit said as the trees around them shook and groaned. **"The forest grows restless… and potent."**

Warhounds yelped in surprise as the bark of one tree broke off, and it became increasingly obviously it was because the tree rapidly outgrew it. Around their feet, wildflowers and plants sprouted from the forest floor in a thick carpet.

"**New life is growing."** In the distance, the roar of an undefinable beast resounded. **"And appearing… something else stirs. A great many minds awaken, weary beyond reckoning and yet… they feel familiar…"**

The Timber Spirit's words went unheard as the Warhounds were more concerned with their changing surroundings and wondering what ever could be happening in Canterlot.

**GAMMA**

Twilight didn't know what was happening. The blinding light before them made it impossible for them to see what was happening, though she could still see Rarity beside her, unconscious on the ground. Twilight herself felt like she was on the verge of joining her friend, the strange presence about them was crushing in its intensity and the unicorn had a suspicion it was her own not insignificant magic that allowed her to keep consciousness.

Finally the light along with the presence began to die down, and before long she was able to see. A moment later she wished she hadn't.

Oskar had changed incredibly. He was now taller than Discord by at least two heads and was twice as big through sheer muscle mass. His body was covered in black scales that sheened red in the light and along his sides, patches of bioluminescence glowed brightly. His tail was long and seemed to be made of tightly entwined smaller tails. His legs and arms were both powerfully built, his legs ending in bear paw like appendages with long claws and arms in three fingered large talons. Along his back was a line of silvery spikes extending from his spine. His blade wings had remained, but was now larger and each "feather" had gained a jagged edge that would rip and tear flesh agonizingly. Three orange slitted eyes sat in each of his eye sockets and he had a thick mane of spines shooting backwards from off the back of his head. His mouth was beak like in its shape.

For a long moment, everyone stood in silence. For the ponies, it was a silence born of terror. For Oskar, it was a silence born of madness and torment. And for Discord, it was a silence born of shocked confusion.

"Er…" Discord began, looking between the ponies and Oskar. "Did I miss something in those thousand years? Don't tell you got a new arch-nemesis Celestia?"

The multiple eyes in Oskar's skull stopped their spinning as he struggled with his fragmented mind. Even as insane as he currently was, Oskar still had his basic instincts drilled into him from his harsh, short stint as Mercer's Evolved. Discord was a threat, even as agonized screams howled at him from all around, as the surroundings swirled and twisted from a myriad of memories, he could still focus his mind enough to deal with a threat.

Oskar leapt at Discord with talon hands outstretched, his mouth opening into four segments and revealing a mouth utterly filled with gleaming teeth releasing a shrill scream of a roar.

"YIIII!" Discord shouted, not reacting nearly fast enough to save himself as Oskar impacted with him and sent the both of them flying through a wall and out into the open air.

Discord and Oskar flew through the air, their velocity enough that not even the thick wall protecting ponies from the sheer ledge into the valley below stopped them. Tearing through the wall and taking masonry with them, the two continued on their flight until they landed in the rolling grasslands below Canterlot, their impact sending up large dirt clods and creating a long ditch through the earth.

"GAH!" Discord shouted as Oskar snarled and opened his mouth into its four separate mandibles and descended to consume his head. The Draconequis brought up a fist and punched him in the side of the head. Though his punch may as well have been a flimsy smack for all the good it did, that wasn't the point. He was using the physical contact to work his power on the clearly insane creature trying to maul him, to forcefully twist it's mind and make it stop attacking him.

Oskar seemed to freeze and his many eyes spun madly before they stilled and went dull. Discord sighed in relief, thinking his magic had done it's work.

**DELTA**

"_INFECTED CREATURES ARE LOOSE! I REPEAT! INFECTED CREATURES ARE-AHH SHIT!"_

"_You are my sunshine~ my only sunshine~ you make me happy~ When skies are… w-who are you? Please just take what you want and leave my daught-"_

"_Oskar, you are to frame this protestor group for sabotage. The target is Blackwatch's personal clinic. They'll be out for blood after this, a perfect distraction."_

Memories swirled in Oskar's mind. The last moments of those he had killed played on endlessly through his mind, leaving it near helpless in his lack of coherence; however the last moments of those he had killed wasn't the only things of importance in Oskar's mind.

"_This is so fantastic Emerald! I have so much to teach you! Don't you think this is such a great opportunity for the both of us?" _a memory of a happy time whispered.

"_Here is the plan. Lieutenant Jacob here is going to cut the power to the cells and Oskar is going to make sure that Blackwatch personell in positions that let them stop the break won't be an issue. Doctor Deidre will play interception with the Blackwatch CO. If all goes to plan, the creatures will wreak havoc and cause immense damage to the base. Of course the creatures will also likely break out into the streets, the resulting slaughter…"_ A memory of a mission briefing echoed in Oskar's mind before oddly falling silent.

"_We care Emerald, don' cha mistake that," _another pleasant memory whispered._ "Specially me. Grew up with a big ole family but ya didn't even get ta have your parents for long."_

"_Well if it isn't Mercer's favorite little bloodhound? Why do you always get the nice missions? Hunting down and tearing apart people all the time, feeling their flesh part like putty between your fingers and their scre-" _another dark memory began before suddenly cutting out.

"_I know we don't exactly get along. Even now, you're so tense from being near me," _a motherly voice said._ "And I understand why you dislike me. After a lifetime of only living on the bare minimum and coming face to face with a pony such as I… well, long story short Emerald, I'd rather we be friends; dear friends."_

"_HEY! Asshole! You in the stupid hat! Yeah I'm talking to…"_

"_Emerald…" _The voice of a near and dear friend._ "You shouldn't have felt you needed to speak up in the first place. You do not need to feel that you are at fault."_

"_Oskar, another mission. You are…"_

"_Fluttershy…" _the voice of Oskar's female side whispered. _"I… I would never hurt you. You are… you are my f-friend. The last thing… the very last thing I want to do is to hurt you, I'd do a-anything to avoid it."_

"_It's time to…"_

"_I would like you to know that both I and all the Alphas deeply appreciate all you have done for us." _The voice of a stern and proud Diamond Dog._ "You promised you would make us more than slavers and thieves, and you have fulfilled that promise. You've built a nation for us, made us strong, made us independent and given us a future to look forward to. Such is our gratitude and loyalty, there is nothing any of us wouldn't do if you ordered us to do it Oskar."_

"_Kill the…"_

"_I know what you are doing and going through…" _Rainbow Dash said quietly with a flushed face._ "Putting on a strong face for everypony's sake but on the inside… you're breaking, and you wish somepony was there to help keep you together… and well… what I'm getting at is if you ever need somepony to be that pony, or to talk to somepony that understands what it's like… well you know where to find me."_

Though his mind was still in chaos, it was as if things became so much clearer and straightforward. There was a threat to the others, to his… friends. That threat was incredibly and terrifyingly powerful, far beyond the ability of his friends to defend themselves against. But not _him_. No, now he was the powerful one; he was the one capable of standing against the cruel and tyrannical. No longer was his head going to be bowed in silent terror, now that he had the strength to stand defiant. Now he would fight in the sun instead of the shadows.

**EPSILON**

Discord's eyes widened and he shouted in alarm as Oskar's eyes were suddenly alight with fury and he redoubled his efforts to eat the chaotic being.

At the last moment, Discord remembered that he had magic and quickly teleported before he lost his head to Oskar's maw. The transformed Evolved ended up getting a mouthful of dirt and grass but didn't let his prey's sudden disappearance disorient him. Instinctively he sent out a viral pulse and it came back incredibly fast.

Discord was hoping for a quick breather in the air and ended up having to teleport away again when Oskar was practically already in his face.

This time, Oskar didn't fly after Discord as he teleported further away into the air. He knew how to play this game and wasn't going to let Discord keep the advantage.

Discord looked around wildly when he saw Oskar disappear in a flash and only noticed there was a shadow being cast over him when it was too late. There was a painful crack as Discord felt a powerful blow and he was sent spinning through the air. He managed to gain control of his spinning after a few moments, only to see Oskar flying towards him at incredible speeds.

Panicking, Discord twisted reality between him and Oskar into a huge mass of cotton candy. Oskar was moving too fast and the appearance of the floating candy was too sudden that he ended up flying straight into it. However, cotton candy was still cotton candy, and while Oskar was slowed enough to briefly stop him he was already almost out of it on the other side.

Seeing a chance, Discord started altering the makeup of the candy, making it stronger and madeit so that it was pulling taut around Oskar. Oskar roared and twisted. His claws were sharp and his strength was incredible, and he likely would have still managed to break out at any second when he suddenly stilled and let the candy cover him.

There was a long quiet moment with the mass of cotton candy pulsating and shrinking down when there was a bright blue glow coming from the center of it.

"AUUUUUGH! HOT!" Discord shouted, having barely managed to avoid the beam of blue plasma that exploded out of the cotton candy, but his tail was not so lucky. "WATER! WATER!"

The ball of cotton candy was nearly fully aflame, one side completely vaporised from the sure heat. There was a crimson flash from within and Discord found himself using pure magic to keep himself from getting mauled.

"**K-k-kill… KILLLLLL YOOOOOU…"** Oskar gurgled out, using pure force of muscle to steadily break through the magical barrier between him and Discord. **"B-butcher you… GUT yooooou… EAT YOU!"**

"Now I am a lover of tricks, not a fighter!" Discord shouted a tad nervously. "Can't we talk about this!?"

Currently, the chaotic being really wished he was a fighter, as he was just completely out of his element right now. He had no idea how to even handle this fight. Never before had Discord ever faced someone who could actually **hurt** him. For all his creative tricks and pranks, he had no idea how to apply them in a truly serious fight. In the end, his opponent only had brute strength while he had skill… unfortunately it was the wrong kind of skill.

Seemingly in answer to Discord's words, Oskar reared back his head and bashed it against the magical barrier, smashing it. The crazed Evolved opened his jaws to snap them around Discord's head but the Dragoniquis managed to back himself away, saving himself from _most_ of the potential harm.

"ARRGH!" the Draconequis shouted as one of Oskar's teeth tore open a massive gash along his cheek.

**ZETA**

The presence that had seemingly made all the unicorns faint had gone, or at least faded enough that the unicorns managed to regain consciousness quickly. Most thought they were still sleeping when they saw the blood red sky above them.

However there was another aspect of the sky everyone noticed.

Drifting down sedately from the crimson sky was black dust. Everyone wondered at what could have caused this, drawing conclusions between the crimson sky and the beam of light that had exploded out from the roof of the palace, but nothing specific.

A pegasus mother and her earth pony filly watched as the black dust drifted near them. They stared at it in open curiosity, and when it drifted down to head level she sniffed, wondering what the odor would be like if it had one. The effect was near instant.

The mother started coughing and hacking the moment she inhaled the dust through her nose, an action that everyone else in the streets was forced to mimic.

"Mommy!" the little filly shouted in alarm as her mother fell to the ground and just couldn't stop coughing. Mere moments later, the filly had collapsed to her side as well, practically coughing up a lung. Beside her, her mother continued her pained coughing fit, spittle flecked with blood leaving her mouth with every cough now.

The black dust continued to drift down serenely.

**ETA**

Discord couldn't deny it anymore, he was definitely panicking. He wasn't stupid in the slightest and was sure, given time, he could learn how to truly fight effectively with his powers, but Oskar wasn't allowing him that time.

The crazed Evolved had been doggedly chasing him ever since the fight began with a tireless tenacity that was terrible to behold. The absolute most amount of time Discord had to himself since the start of the fight was ten seconds, and that was when he had briefly trapped him in the cotton candy. Since then, Oskar barely allowed him three before he was on him.

Discord's lack of experience in fights where both sides were on equal standing was costing him his wellbeing as well. Blood dripped down the Draconequis' chest from three ugly claw marks from when Oskar had gotten closer than usual and managed to rake him there, purple bruises marked Discord's mismatched hide from powerful punches and one of his eyes was close to being closed shut by swelling.

Barely dodging another charge by his deadly foe, Discord called upon his magic again to directly restrain Oskar and give himself a breather.

Just like before, Oskar started to use pure physical force to steadily break through Discord's shimmering barrier, his multi sectioned mouth and six eyes made for a unappealing sight to stare at. Once again Oskar started to rear his head back to bash the barrier, and Discord readied himself for the lightning fast assault that followed. However instead of a loud crack of his barrier falling, there was just a soft tinkling sound, much like that of glass shards falling on a hard floor.

Discord gasped as he felt something wrap around his neck. He looked down to see that Oskar had made use of his tail instead of his head, plunging it's razor sharp tip through the shield and up to wrap around his neck. Looking back up, Discord saw Oskar either make a truly vicious sneer or a bestial snarl.

Oskar started spinning rapidly and Discord soon disappeared in a blur of the Evolved's tail as it spun faster and faster vertical to the ground. Once he had reached a certain speed, Oskar let go of the chaotic being and sent him crashing near instantly into the ground before, creating a loud boom and explosion of dirt and grass as Discord hit the grasslands.

Discord was still shaking his head clear and the dust cloud hadn't even settled when Oskar smashed down into his stomach. Discord wheezed out agonizingly and then gagged when Oskar grabbed him by his throat and picked him up. The Evolved snarled briefly in his face, sending spittle flying before taking hold of his tail with his other hand and started swinging him into the ground.

The soft dirt might as well have been solid stone as far as Discord was concerned. Each time he was smashed into the ground, it felt like hammers were being smashed into the whole of his body before he was roughly wrenched up into the air and smashed down again. After what felt like an eternity to Discord, but was actually only a handful of swings to Oskar, he was finally thrown into the ground. He stayed there for a moment, finding himself playing dead, mostly because he felt half way there, before he unwillingly released a pained groan.

Oskar towered over him and released a disdainful sniff before picking him up by his tail again. He then spun him in the air briefly before tossing him straight up. After that, Oskar teleported way up into the air and brought both his fists over his head. When Discord reached him, Oskar brought both his fists down in a flash, spiking him back towards the royal palace.

Several seconds later, Discord crashed into the floor of the very hall he had been taunting the princesses and the Mane Six in, half buried into the broken stone.

Celestia and the others were still there, and Rarity had also regained consciousness; ever since the fight had left the palace, they had only ever caught glimpses of it from afar. They really had no choice but to watch as Discord had been interrupted before he could give them their riddle to the Elements of Harmony's location.

The alicorn of the sun could not help the sense of awe she felt upon seeing Discord half buried in the rubble of the floor. Here was a foe that had rendered all of them helpless without a fight, a foe she and her sisters had not even tried to fight without the aid of the Elements of Harmony; here he lay beaten to a pulp and half dead from his injuries. And seeing that brought up a sudden sense of despair. Here was their undefeatable enemy utterly lain low by another being, a being that by her sister's account and his actions was quite villainous. And now here she was, without the Elements of Harmony and a new threat very clearly greater than Discord.

"Sister… what do we do?" Luna said gravely, having come to the same realizations.

"I do not know Luna…" Celestia answered. "The Elements are missing, what _can_ we do?"

"Run," Luna stated simply. "Fight another day."

"I agree," Celestia said with a nod. "We'll-"

With a loud crack of stone Oskar landed in the hall from the massive hole in the roof, made from his sudden burst of magic. The two princesses quickly backed away from the virus, flaring their wings as they stood protectively in front of the Mane Six. Oskar, however, only had eyes for one person.

Reaching into the rubble, Oskar pulled up Discord's beaten and battered unconscious form. Snarling briefly, Oskar brought the Chaotic being close to his face before opening his mouth as wide as possible. Discord was then brought headfirst towards Oskar's mouth when he was interrupted.

"STOP!" Twilight shouted, running out from behind the princesses and coming to a stop just before the monstrosity before her.

With her shout, Oskar did indeed stop and he turned one of his many eyes towards Twilight. For a long tense moment, the two simply looked at each other, Twilight calmly and sternly looking up at Oskar and the viral being looking down at her, mouth agape and Discord inches from being eaten headfirst.

"You don't have to do this," Twilight began evenly. "_Look_ at him. He isn't going to be hurting anypony any time soon. Please don't kill him."

The silence continued for a moment longer as Oskar stared, but then something happened, the cloud of madness seem to lift from his eyes and his grip around Discord's neck slacked. Discord slipped from Oskar's grip and fell to the floor with a thud. Oskar turned to face Twilight and silence reigned for the longest moment as he stared at her and everyone else.

Oskar suddenly narrowed his eyes at Celestia and Luna and raised his foot before stomping it on the floor.

Tendrils burst out from the floor under the Mane Six so fast that by the time they shouted in alarm they were already caught. Rainbow Dash's wings were completely wrapped up along with her legs. Rarity's legs were lightly bound with most of the attention on her horn with several tendrils wrapped around it that would constrict painfully should she use her magic. Fluttershy's wings were wrapped up as well, but several large tendrils wrapped around her head and completely blinded her. Applejack was just tied up in general but Pinkie Pie was utterly cocooned in tendrils, leaving only two small air holes of the pony to breathe out of. In stark contrast to everyone else, however, Twilight just had a few tendrils wrapped around her waist and that held her aloft. Nothing at all was keeping her from using magic, though the death glare she was shooting at Oskar could be considered a deadly weapon all on its own.

"**Surrender," **Oskar said to the two princesses, his blade wings fully flared out.

Celestia and Luna glared defiantly at Oskar. He was more powerful than them, that much was clear, but they weren't about to cower before him. Still, they recognised just how bad the situation was; all of the Mane Six were restrained, the Elements of Harmony were missing and the being before them was strong enough to not only fight Discord, but win. In the end, the only choice for them to take was clear.

"Very well…" Celestia began, relaxing her stance but never stopping her glare. "We surrender, just do not hurt anypony."

With a gesture of his hand, tendrils erupted from the ground and completely covered both of the princesses, leaving them in a cocooned state very much like Pinkie Pie. Oskar then paused for a moment before taking in the Mane Six restrained along with the princesses and turning back to look at Discord's unconscious form. It was hard to tell, but Oskar seemed to look confused and uncertain.

"**I won?"** Oskar muttered as he kept looking between the princesses and Discord. **"I won… it doesn't feel like…"**

"Yes, you've won," Twilight practically spat at him. "Completely and totally."

Oskar stared at Twilight for a long moment, his gaze locked on hers. Then he turned around and the tendrils retreated from everyone, letting them drop to the floor in confusion. Why had he done that? The Evolved walked over to one of the windows and spied the landscape. The sky was blood red, black dust rained down and ponies on the streets were writhing on the ground.

Making a decision, Oskar raised a hand and reached out.

**THETA**

The little filly's lungs were on fire and she could barely stop her coughing long enough to breath comfortably. Beside her, her mother seemed to be far worse off.

Each feather of her wings appeared to have fused their bristles together and looked like a bunch of long scales. Her mane had become much wilder looking and the pupils of her eyes had become slitted. Her teeth had fallen out and were now replaced by canines. She thrashed and was spasming on the ground, snarling with flecks of foam appearing around her lips.

"M-m-mommy…" the filly said in a frightened voice between coughing.

Her mother wasn't the only one that appeared to be suffering and undergoing intense changes. All over Canterlot, ponies were rendered helpless by the black dust they had breathed. Most were just on the ground with painful coughing fits, but others had started undergoing extreme changes to their body.

Suddenly, there was a blast of light from the palace and a wave of white light passed over everything and everyone. A clear blue sky and a relief from the pain and further change was left in its wake. All signs of the black dust that had rained down from the sky were gone, and the ponies that had collapsed to the ground in coughing fits were already feeling well enough to stand back up. However, there were an unfortunate few.

"Mommy?" the little filly asked with growing alarm and starting shaking her mother's shoulder. "Mommy!"

"I'm… I'm okay honey…" her mother said softly, her sharp teeth glinting from between her lips and her eyes fluttering open and revealing her slitted eyes.

"M-mommy…" the little filly said and almost recoiled from the sight of her changed mother before she came closer and held her tight.

**IOTA**

Everyone looked at Oskar, who was currently staring at his hand after undoing the effect his increase in power had on the land. After a moment, he turned his gaze towards the ponies. Luna walked towards him and looked like she was going to say something.

Oskar then disappeared in an excessively bright flash of crimson light.

Silence reigned in that moment. Nothing went as how everyone expected things to go. Discord was gloating and taunting them with his supremacy when a foe they had not expected at all came to their aid. Then, after defeating that foe and having them at his mercy, he just let them go and left. Everyone was a tad confused of how to take it, though Twilight actually was just standing there staring at the spot where Oskar had stood with a frown.

Seeing this made Celestia think back to a minute ago when everyone was bound in black tendrils. Everyone had been securely restrained and yet Twilight was barely given any thought. It couldn't have been that Oskar didn't consider her a threat as he had taken no chances with everyone else. So why hadn't he restrained Twilight like everyone else? Why had he purposefully decided to take such a massive risk? Perhaps it was because-

"Oh my gosh!" Fluttershy shouted in alarm, gaining everyone's attention.

The pegasus was standing beside the terribly injured Discord. Everyone had been so confused over what had just happened with Oskar that they had completely forgotten about the shape shifter's victim.

"Please, somepony get me some bandages!" Fluttershy shouted in alarm. She was good, but there was only so much anyone could do without the proper equipment.

Celestia and Luna looked at each other as Fluttershy's friends leapt into action. Injured as he may be, Discord was still a powerful threat and the best course of action would be to seal him away as soon as they found the Elements of Harmony. Then again, Discord was very injured and it seemed cruel to just seal him away with his injuries and the possibility his prison would preserve the wounds he had sustained.

"Caution is the better part of valour, sister," Luna said softly as she viewed Fluttershy tending to Discord's wounds as best as she could. "T'would be a sound move to seal him as soon as the elements are found."

"Perhaps…" Celestia said with a troubled frown that soon turned thoughtful. "But there is a chance, a small chance, that this event gives us a grand opportunity."

"Oh?"

"Yes," Celestia said as she took in Fluttershy caring for Discord. "A very grand opportunity."

**KAPPA**

"GURK!" Oskar stifled a grunt as crimson magical lightning surged along his form for a moment.

He had assumed his base form and returned to the cavern city of his nation. However, once the adrenaline born out of his brief bout of insanity and combat, he started to notice something; his magic was too intense and he could _feel_ so much more.

"Boss, are you okay?" a Diamond Dog asked worriedly.

"I'm f-fine," Oskar stuttered as another bolt surged and made him stumble slightly.

"Ahh!" the dog shouted in shock from the sight. "Boss, are you sure?!"

"I-I don't need h-help!" Oskar said angrily before forcing himself to calm down. "Just leave me alone for a bit…"

"Alright boss…"

Oskar sat down on a stone bench and placed his head in his hands, twitching involuntarily whenever another surge of magic blasted through him.

'_Is this Discord's power?'_ Oskar thought briefly before shaking his head. _'No, it can't be. It doesn't feel chaotic. I don't know what I was expecting, but this feeling is something else entirely. I can feel every viral creation I ever created and could feel the viral spores that had rained down from the skies. I was never able to control viral life forms from a distance all that well. Making them stumble in a general direction was the most I was ever able to do, but after Discord… it was like I was standing beside them and giving my commands directly.' _

'_So what did consuming that blood do?'_ Oskar thought and looked down at his hand. _'I didn't get what Discord had so… what, did it just amplify what was there? It certainly feels like it. I have so much magic flowing through my circuits now… more than I can control reliably anymore. God damn, and here I was beginning to enjoy that universal compatibility the alicorn upgrade gave to my circuits. Well, no point in complaining. I might as well as add control training back to my work list.'_

'_Oh… can't forget.' _Oskar groaned inwardly. _'Objective Five: Claim the top of the Food Chain, complete. Operation status? Total success… not that I am feeling very happy about it.'_

"**VIRUS!"** The Timber Spirit's voice echoed within the cavern and startled both the dogs and Oskar.

"Huh?" Oskar said, wondering what ever could be happening now.

"**I have been thinking on your words for a long time now,"** the spirit's deep voice boomed. **"And after watching you claim victory over one who spits upon the cycle with contemptuous ease, I have decided to act as well."**

"Act?" Oskar asked and recalled the last major conversation they shared and suddenly grew worried. "What do you intend to do?"

"**I shall teach them to not only beware these forests but fear it in totality!"** the spirit boomed. **"I shall wipe one of the more troublesome towns off the map! Then they shall know the cycle is not to be trifled with!"**

"What?!" Oskar shouted, leaping to his feet. "Hold on a minute! It's one thing to not want to be victimised or enslaved, but it's an entirely other thing to kill just to teach others a lesson!"

Oskar then waited for a reply from the spirit, but the moments passed…

"Hello…?" Oskar said with wide eyes. "God damn it!"

The Evolved immediately started pacing, occasionally twitching from a sudden surge of magic. He began thinking intently of which town the spirit could be attacking and his first thought was Ponyville. Half panicking, the virus teleported to the outskirts outside the town, however Oskar had ended up arriving a _bit_ off target.

With a small explosion of dirt Oskar tore out of the ground he had accidentally buried himself in. Looking at Ponyville with a longing expression for a brief moment, Oskar then turned towards the forest border. He waited several moments, but worry made him impatient and he ran at the trees.

'_He's not here. Why isn't he here?!'_ Oskar thought as he made use of his sonar, his hearing and his sight to catch any sign of the spirit's assault. _'Okay, this just means that he hadn't meant Ponyville. But what town could he have meant? I have no clue, no choice but to take flight and spot the attack from the sky.'_

With that, Oskar grew his blade wings and intended to quickly reach the cloud level and start looking. However, Oskar ending up missing his mark by a bit.

'_AHH SHIT!' _Oskar thought as he shot past the clouds and started to see stars appear when he stopped his intensely fast ascent. He then tried to make a minor correction and lower down to cloud level but ended up doing the same thing in the opposite direction.

Nothing more than a blur to the average observer, Oskar ended up impacting the ground like a small meteor, sending up a shower of dirt and causing the earth to shake.

'_Come on!'_ Oskar thought angrily with himself. _'Get control of yourself! I can't keep making this mistake over and over again when that spirit could be attacking a town right at this moment!'_

Deeply unhappy scowl plastered across his expression, Oskar quickly got out of the crater he made and once more took flight. Again he ended up flying higher than intended but at least he wasn't too much higher than the clouds.

Sense of urgency growing with every moment, Oskar made his way, mental list of all the towns that bordered Everfree at the forefront of his mind.

**LAMDA**

The ponies of Trottingham were a simple people whose main export was high quality lumber gathered from sustainable logging. For the most part, the ponies here grew vast groves of trees for their lumber but occasionally a lumberjack would get bold enough to take a few from Everfree. Normally the ponies went out of their way to avoid the dreaded forest, but as time went on and more ponies took trees without reprisal, ponies started to fear the forest less. The ponies had thought that as long as they took only from the outskirts and didn't venture into the forest everything would be fine. This belief made them the Spirit's target.

It began with a loud howl echoing from the forest, spooking the already tense ponies that had just gone through the sky going red. Then the trees started to shake and the ground rumbled with the impact of a great many paws. And out from the forest, their eyes glowing bright green, came a vast horde of Timber Wolves.

Ponies panicked in the streets as the snarling and howling wave of animated wood approached. Their size made their speed quick and most of the ponies were still on the streets by the time the first wolves started to reach them. One of the leading wolves leapt for a group a ponies, jaws wide open, when a blur shot down from the sky and crashed down on top of the timber wolf, sending logs and dirt flying.

This one action cause both sides to pause in what they were doing. Timber wolves stopped their charge to peer through the dust cloud at what had struck down one of their number, and the ponies stopped to see what had saved them.

Out of the crater and the dispersing dust cloud was Oskar, blade wings upon his back and unhappy frown firmly plastered across his expression. The timber wolves seemed to grow intensely confused at Oskar's presence, while the ponies became unnerved by the look of the strange creature's wings and how their edges seemed to be so sharp they hurt the eyes to look at them.

"I know I am the last person you expected to be standing against you but I want you to stop," Oskar said as he threw up his hands in a placating manner. "I know why you are doing this but it doesn't justify it. Don't make me fight you, because I will."

Oskar had obviously failed at talking down the spirit because the hordes of timber wolves before him seemed to become utterly enraged. With a collective howl they charged again, this time not at the ponies, but at Oskar.

"HAVE IT YOUR WAY!" Oskar shouted as he kicked one wolf, sending it's log body scattering into the air.

The ponies took this change of targets as their chance to get to safety, and they didn't waste that chance, quickly bolting down the street for shelter.

'_Right, these wolves aren't exactly the most durable things around,' _Oskar thought as he scattered one wolf with a punch and disrupted dozens more when he magically picked up half a dozen wolves and sent them flying at their fellows. _'Maybe to the average person around here they would be more of a danger, but not to me. I doubt their wooden teeth could ever hope to pierce my hide. His anger has blinded him to the bigger picture too. I can't be everywhere, so if he truly wanted to destroy the town he could still do a ton of damage just by sending wolves all over instead of focusing on me. So really it all comes down to me taking down the wolves faster and more efficiently. Fire breath is out. I could end up igniting a house or two plus it would likely enrage him more. Hammerfists might be a good idea, but if I'm not careful with the strength of my blows I may end up damaging the homes, the same might as well be said of my whipfist. So what does that leave me? Blade, claws, bare fists and my magic. Yeah, I've got tons of ways to go about handling this, let's do it!'_

Oskar didn't trust his running ability at its full power just yet; he had a hard enough time getting place to place with it let alone using it in combat. So the virus focused on his magic and fell back on his hands and feet whenever a timber wolf got close. Just like how his flying ability was now unreliable, so was his other magical abilities. When he tried to levitate a wolf sometimes that would be the result, other times he ended up crushing the wolf into splinters or accidently sent it flying off into the sky. They were both acceptable results for combat, but if he intended to use his magic for more mundane tasks he would have to be _very_ careful.

The street was soon covered in the scattered logs of disrupted timber wolves. As fast as they were streaming out of the forest, Oskar was simply destroying their numbers faster. Eventually the Evolved had gotten his stride and was now making his way down the street, utterly ripping apart timber wolves before they could even get close with just telekinetic skill alone.

Suddenly the timber wolves not only stopped their advance but fell to pieces where they stood, leaving Oskar to stare in bemusement at the scattered logs.

Seeing that the timber wolves had been defeated, ponies began to cautiously leave their homes. Seeing the one who came to their rescue made them want to approach him and give him their thanks but his intimidating looking wings made them keep their distance. Finally one pony did finally approach him.

"Excuse me?" Oskar heard and felt something nudge his leg. Looking down, he saw a young earth pony filly looking up at him.

"Thank you for saving us and our homes.," she said a little shyly.

"Oh… no problem…" Oskar said, caught off guard by the praise. "Just… just tell everyone to not bother the forest anymore."

"Okay!" She nodded.

With that, Oskar's thoughts returned to the issue of what had happened to make the spirit stop. Did he just see that he was having no effect? It was then that something that the little filly said that got him to thinking.

'_Hmm… home…'_ Oskar thought and then his eyes widened in realization and he teleported away, leaving a confused crowd of ponies behind.

The Evolved found himself a hundred feet above his intended destination, but didn't mind; the height gave him a good observation spot for what was happening below.

The spirit had apparently decided that if Oskar was going to side with the ponies then it was going to attack his people that lived in the forest. In the cleared field below, the entire force of Warhounds were battling a seemingly endless wave of timber wolves pouring out of the treeline. Despite the timber wolves being so much larger than them, the Warhounds were actually doing very well. Their well-designed armour made the wooden teeth and claws of the timber wolves ineffective, though by the looks of several wounded dogs the spirit was quickly learning to aim for the joints of the armor.

The bigger dogs were using large clubs and hammers to disrupt the large wooden wolves while the smaller ones were resorting to hit and run tactics to give their bigger and stronger fellows an opening. Interestingly, Whisper Wind was also there helping out, dive bombing as many timber wolves as she could get away with and giving the Warhounds an opening.

Oskar dropped out of the sky, shifting his arms into hammerfists and shot himself towards the largest concentration of timber wolves coming out of the forest. A near instant later, he landed with an explosion of dirt that was larger than the previous ones followed by a small forest of spikes spearing out of the ground.

Oskar's eventful entry into the fight caught the attention of most of the timber wolves, a very much welcome development for the beleaguered Warhounds as the wolves charged at Oskar. Seeing that there was nothing here that could keep him from letting loose, Oskar did just that.

The Evolved's hammerfists made earth shuddering blows with every strike and destroyed most timber wolves that even got close, let alone those that were hit by the fists. He was about to provide yet more assistance to his Diamond Dogs via sending many wolves flying when louds boom resounded throughout the field.

Oskar turned to see Belvedere wearing his Warhound armor, carrying what looked like a small cannon and followed by a small group of other Warhounds, all carrying the cannon like gun. Each Warhound had a pack on their back that held large canisters that were apparently the magazines for the guns. Due to their size, the packs didn't hold too many canisters shots but there was a wagon being pulled along behind the group filled with canisters.

Upon reloading their guns, the small group faced a small wave of charging timber wolves and let loose, utterly devastating the wolves and nearly turning them into splinters in one deafening barrage of gunfire. Without sparing a single moment, the dogs then snapped down the barrel of their guns and dropped the empty canister down on the ground. They then grabbed a fresh canister out of their packs and pushed it into the gun chamber before snapping the barrel back up. The next wave of timber wolves were just as lucky as the first.

Concentrating on a large number of the timber wolves, Oskar intended to send them flying into the sky. For the most part that happened, but a great many timber wolves were also crushed into mulch as they flew. Once he did that, Oskar ran forward and came to a stop beside Belvedere.

"Is everyone alright?" Oskar asked before giving the gun the alpha held a studying look. "Nice shotgun by the way."

"Everyone is fine, Oskar. The attack started just a short while ago and we've managed to hold them back with only a few wounded so far," Belvedere stated before briefly brandishing the gun. "We were making these in secret. Wanted to surprise you. But then these things attacked and our bolt action rifles weren't terribly useful, so we took these out for a test drive. They seem to be working well… haven't exploded in my hands yet."

"Okay, we are definitely going to be talking later; I don't like the implications of that statement," Oskar said before turning towards the treeline. "Right now we still have a fight to win."

"Hmm… actually it looks like they have stopped coming," Belvedere said, the field all around them covered with scattered logs and a few skirmishes between the still active wolves and the Warhounds. "Did the spirit run out of logs or something?"

"I doubt it…" Oskar said with narrowed eyes, staring at the treeline. "Something else is coming. I guess that easily."

Oskar was proven right when a distant rumble resounded and off in the distance a large flock of birds suddenly took off. A shape began to appear through the canopy of the trees. At first it looked like the trees were rising up into the air, but it soon became apparent something had risen up from under them as the trees fell off. The shape just continued to raise up higher and higher into the air, until it was easily the size of a skyscraper, then it started walking towards the field.

The normally stoic Belvedere was wide eyed and gaping at the massive thing moving towards them and the Warhounds in the field were near panicking. Oskar, however, kept his cool and stood his ground as dogs backed away from the approaching titan. It may have been a few times bigger than a goliath, but he knew bigger didn't always mean better.

Oskar studied the titanic being as it closed distance. It had six legs that made the earth tremble as it walked. Near what the virus had assumed was its head were several brightly glowing green spots that seemed to be eyes. The entirety of its body seemed to be made of a vast collection of tightly coiled together roots of various sizes, from impossibly huge to small and spindly. The overall shape of the body reminded Oskar of a squid or a cuttlefish… or now that Oskar thought about it really reminded him of-

"**YOU!"** the spirit boomed in it's incredibly deep voice. **"YOU BETRAYED ME!"**

Oskar stood his ground as the titanic being towered over him and brought its head down near to him, not flinching in the face of the obvious intimidation tactic.

"**YOU SPOKE OF YOUR OWN STRUGGLES OF ENSURING YOUR OWN FREEDOM!"** the spirit raged. **"I THOUGHT YOU AND I HAD A SHARED DESIRE AND NEED FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THAT WHICH IS SACRED TO US! YET WHEN I GO OUT TO ENSURE I AM NO LONGER THREATENED BY ENCROACHMENT YOU SIDE WITH THOSE THAT WOULD CHAIN ME! WHY!"**

"Because I can not only understand and sympathise with where you are coming from," Oskar began. "I can't allow you to kill innocent people for committing a crime they had no idea in the slightest they were doing."

"**YOU HYPOCRITE!" **the spirit raged. **"DO YOU BELIEVE I AM UNAWARE OF WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN DOING IN EQUESTRIA? OR THAT I HAVE SUDDENLY FORGOTTEN THE MURDERS YOU TOLD ME OF?! AND WHAT OF THE ****PETTY**** THEFTS YOU HAVE BEEN COMMITTING? DOES THAT NOT MATTER WHEN IT IS YOU COMMITTING THESE ACTIONS?!"**

"I am not going to defend what I have done," Oskar said solemnly. "I know I have done terrible and unforgivable things just to save my own hide. But I am not going to do those things anymore; I am not the person I was when I first arrived here. And while I have done terrible things, that does not mean I do not have a responsibility to stop mass murder when I have the opportunity to do so. Thus I cannot allow you to wreak havoc and destroy all you wish in Equestria just to spread a message."

"**I am not your servant!" **the spirit boomed angrily, though much less than before. **"I ****am**** the Everfree! I am unchained and unbound eternally! I will be forever free and none shall take it from me. Not ponies, and especially not YOU!"**

"I never intended for that, ever," Oskar said with his hands raised placatingly. "I just don't see the need for you to go to such extreme lengths. The ponies still fear the Everfree. Just freshen up that fear in a way that doesn't lead to anyone dying. It should be a simple enough task. I am not your enemy, I am your… your friend, and I do not want to see you go down the path I did. You'll live to regret it… so very much."

There was a long tense moment following what Oskar had said, and for a brief moment it looked like the massive being blinked at Oskar confoundedly. Then it rose up and seemed to take a much less tense stance as it took a few steps back.

"… **Do not think I listen to you because of your newfound power."** The spirit scoffed as it looked down at Oskar, giving the Evolved the feeling that had it had the appendage, it would be looking down its nose at him. **"You, a being of flesh and virus, attempt to reach out to the **_**goodness**_** of my soul, but you fumble in obvious ineptitude, barely capable of comprehending the idea of **_**friendship**_**."**

"Wow, so much gratitude for me actually trying to reach out to you," Oskar said sarcastically and crossed his arms. "Are you going to tell that I can't hope to even grasp the nature of your existence now _Sovereign_?"

"…**What?"** the spirit said after a moment.

"Oh it's just that… the way you look and the sound of your voice… it really reminds me of someone by that name," Oskar said with shrug.

The spirit didn't appear to be listening though.

"**Sovereign… yes, this name resonates with me," **he said with a pleased tone. **"SOVEREIGN, for this forest is my domain, my kingdom! I command all that exist within it! I am Sovereign of the Everfree!"**

"… You massive egotistical bastard," Oskar deadpanned. "And you don't command either me or the Diamond Dogs!"

"**A triviality."** 'Sovereign said dismissively before beginning to stomp away. **"This conversation is over. Try not cause yet more chaos to that nation you love so much."**

"Yeah, how about you stop trampling your own trees you fat ass!" Oskar shouted after him, looking angry for a few moments before giving a small smile.

"Boss?"

Oskar turned around to see Belvedere and a large group of Warhounds gathered behind him. They were standing near Oskar and still looked nervous from Sovereign's presence, though he was leaving now.

"There is nothing more to worry about, Belvedere," Oskar said, throwing Sovereign a glance over his shoulder before giving Belvedere his full attention. "How is everyone?"

"We only have wounded, Oskar," Belvedere answered, now fully calm. "Their armor did their job well, and everyone is going to make a full recovery."

"Great, I'll just give the healing process a little boost like last time…" Oskar said before sighing.

"Is something wrong, Oskar?" Belvedere asked.

"No, I'm just… today has just been a long day…" Oskar said with another sigh before squaring his shoulders. "Right, let's get to healing those dogs shall we?"

**MU**

Celestia sighed tiredly.

She and her sister were in their palace, which was now missing a good portion of its roof. Ponies were running amok in a half panic, and even the Royal Guard were no better. Even now, hours after the whole battle between Discord and the Imp known as Oskar, things were still disorderly.

Cloudsdale was obliterated, though miraculously no one was hurt. The weather making machines, however, had been utterly destroyed and would set back the already ailing economy of Equestria. While the city of clouds was the not the sole place the weather was made, it was still the major supplier and source of weather, meaning that in the near future the other purely pegasi towns and cities were going to be put under a lot of stress to even keep up a fraction of the old national production. No matter what was currently done, a weather shortage was inevitable.

Then there was the aftermath of the black dust that had rained down from the sky. Nearly every pony in Canterlot and several neighbouring towns had been tormented and briefly crippled by it, but for some ponies it had not ended. Some ponies had been afflicted terribly; wild manes, bestial eyes, unnatural canines and a new aggressive attitude was the common descriptor of the afflicted. For unicorns, their horns had become almost blade like and their magic had increased massively, all of them rating at ten with a few even going a point higher. Pegasi had their feathers turned into long scale like appendages; their flying ability had not suffered however, and in fact it only seemed to have grown even greater. Earth ponies were the less obviously afflicted than the others; they had grown extremely strong, reaching the very height of recorded earth pony development and a few reaching even further than that. As terrible as their conditions were, there were still ponies that were even worse off. They were very clearly turned into something that only had the shape of a pony but were no longer of ponies; at least the others could be mistaken for normal at a distance, but _these_ ponies had no chance of that. One look at their forms would convince any and all that they were another creature entirely. Thankfully, these poor ponies had all been members of staff in the palace or royal guard, and thus Celestia was able to sequester their entire number within her palace where she could do everything in her power to reverse their current condition.

Finally, they still didn't know what to do with Discord. The chaotic being was still unconscious, but had been moved to one of the more softer beds in the palace. Doctors and nurses had been brought in from the nearby hospital down in the city, but the medical staff had been rather nervous of Discord. The only pony attending to the Draconequis without any care for who or what he was, was Fluttershy. She worked tirelessly alongside nervous doctors, even correcting the professionals when they weren't doing their jobs right in treating Discord. Truly the young mare deserved to bear the Element of Kindness with a heart she gladly bared to all when it was needed. Of course that didn't change the fact they still needed to find the Elements of Harmony to protect themselves should Discord decide to take advantage of their compassion.

"Today is a very stressful day," Celestia said wearily. "And there are going to be so many more days like this in both the near and distant future."

"Indeed sister," Luna agreed. "Plans for revitalization of the economy have been set back by Cloudsdale's untimely destruction by quite a bit I'm afraid. Not to mention the cost of repairing the palace."

"The palace can wait," Celestia said with a frown. "We just need to cover the roof and board up a few windows; the main priority is the kingdom."

"Very well," Luna said with a nod. "This does mean that rain will be troublesome and winter will be a much more bitter affair, not to mention how poorly it will look on us when dignitaries from other kingdoms arrive."

"We can deal with it," Celestia said firmly. "How are the pegasi of Cloudsdale?"

"Well, a lucky few will be able to return home by the end of the day," Luna answered as she brought up a scroll. "The rest are going to have to be housed for a time here in the capital until their skyward homes are rebuilt. Rebuilding the weather factory will take longer still of course."

"Hmm…" Celestia hummed. "And the… afflicted?"

"Other than unsettling their fellows with their changed appearance, they appear to be doing fine," Luna replied before a frown appeared for a moment. "It's the more severely changed that are housed within the palace that we have to worry about. They are powerful in quite a few ways and are even more aggressive than the others. For now, they are very willing to be hidden away within these walls until something can be done for them, but how long until their aggressive nature changes that?"

"They are former palace staff and royal guard," Celestia stated confidently. "I'm sure they of all ponies will keep themselves in check and not hurt anypony."

"Even so…" Luna said unsurely with a frown.

"Your highnesses!" a pegasus royal guard shouted, flying in from the fairly nonexistent roof.

"Yes, what is the issue?" Luna asked the guard.

"News from Trottingham!" the guard said with a sharp salute. "It was attacked by timber wolves from the Everfree Forest!"

"No!" Celestia half shouted. "How many ponies were hurt?!"

"None ma'am," the guard answered to the combined confusion of the royal sisters. "The town was saved by a strange bipedal creature with threatening wings made of blades."

"Really?" Luna arched a brow. "Was this creature wearing clothes and had bare pale skin except for a patch hidden under his hat?"

"Uhhh… that sounds like the description, your highness," the guard said after a moment.

Luna and Celestia shared a look. For what possible reason could the forest have for attacking Trottingham, and what reason could Oskar have for protecting it? It didn't make much if any sense to the sisters, which fit in with what happened earlier today. Oskar had them at his mercy and let them all go without a word. He now had the power to face the one being they could only ever face with the Element of Harmony… and he sounded so unsure of himself afterwards as if he had no idea what to do now. Surely he had some sort of plan, but by the sound of it he had been totally surprised he had won. Why?

It was a question only Oskar himself could answer, was what the sisters decided.

**NU**

Oskar sighed as he rubbed his head, stressed out from the day's events as he walked through the streets of the cavern city.

The Evolved had spent the last few hours healing up the injured Warhounds that had been in combat with Sovereign's timber wolves. It had turned out to be an extremely time consuming and difficult task, with him no longer possessing the fine control he once had before Discord. He hadn't made their condition worse, but making sure that very thing didn't happen required intense concentration. Combined with everything else that happened, it just weighed heavily on Oskar, exhausting him in a way that was purely emotional and mental.

Now that he was certain no more tasks needed to be done, or any other catastrophes were about to drop on his head like an angry god, he could take a bit of time to himself. And from how he felt, the Evolved had no choice but to recognise that he needed this time. So his destination was a room that he hadn't even seen but was meant for him.

Arriving at the "city hall," the place where he held his demonstrations or meetings with the Alphas, Oskar entered. He then moved through the halls and went up a few staircases. Eventually he found himself before a set of obviously stolen, but nice oaken double doors. Nailed into the wall just above the doors was a board that had the words 'Boss' Room' carved into it.

Opening the doors, Oskar found himself in what must have been the nicest room in the city. The stone floor was covered with many fur pelts that weren't just placed haphazardly. The large bed was obviously put together with immense care and only the best wood was used. No doubt the same could be said of the bedding and the furs that served as the blankets. A dresser with a sheet of highly polished steel was over to the side, obviously intended for him to store and try out any outfits he had; Oskar doubted it would see much use. On the opposite end of the room was a sitting area with a fireplace; no doubt the fireplace needed quite a bit of work considering how far deep below ground the room was. In one corner of the room was a door which likely led to a bathroom of some sort, and Oskar doubted this would see much use as well.

Closing the doors behind him, Oskar approached the bed and sat on it. He was emotionally and mentally exhausted, and drowning himself in work the past few weeks had not seemed to improve his current situation. As it was, he decided a couple hours of doing nothing would be good for him.

The Evolved lied down on the bed and sighed as his head sunk in the soft pillows. He wasn't physically tired, just mentally and emotionally so. He didn't intend to sleep. He just intended to lie there for a long while, at least until he felt better. Sleep was the last thing on his mind…

**XI**

Luna exhaled softly as the familiar sight of the dream realm appeared around her, the various bubbles of sleeping ponies drifted about and more than a few of them were obviously nightmares as their ugly oily black surface attested. It had been a long day helping her sister slog through everything that needed to be done to calm down the populace and she had been looking forward to overseeing a few dreams. However, it seemed that her work would be cut out for her here, just as it was awake.

Just as she was about to settle into her nightly work in earnest, Luna spotted a familiar sight. It was a nightmare bubble like the others, but unlike the others it had tendrils of red lighting about it, lashing out at everything that neared it. Within the bubble was the sight of a hill that was half lush and half scorched.

Seeing that she once again had the opportunity to enter the dreams of Oskar after so many months, Luna practically leapt at the bubble.

The dream world Luna found herself in wasn't as violent to look at as had the first had been, but the meaning behind it was currently lost on her. Off to the left in the distance was a city upon an island, its tall skyscrapers were all aflame and the sky above it was crimson. Off to the right was Canterlot before during a bright sunny day; the idyllic little town of Ponyville could be spotted in the image as well.

Between these two vistas was a grass covered hill with a tree sitting on the very top of it. One half of the hill and tree was lush and had flowers blooming and butterflies flew about in the air. The other half was utterly scorched, the grass was black and patches of ground had small crackling fires that sent sparks into the air. The tree on this half was burnt as well and was missing all of its leaves, fires darted its charred branches seeming to burn in slow motion.

Sitting at the very base of the tree was Oskar, looking as he did the day his mother had died. He looked utterly miserable as he hugged his legs close to himself and clutched his hat in one hand.

Luna approached the top of the hill slowly, so as to not startle Oskar. She merely wanted to talk to creature she called an Imp and nothing else. But as she neared Oskar she began to hear a conversation.

"… Remember how she screamed at you after finding out what you had done?" Luna heard a familiar voice ask. "Your little _playmate_ wasn't going to play anymore. Or how about that whore you framed for murder? You couldn't help yourself and just had to know what kind of person you condemned to death at Blackwatch's _merciful_ hands. Poor little Mary Anne only wanted enough to bribe her way out of the hell hole that was the NYZ… well she certainly wasn't in the NYZ anymore afterwards now wasn't she?"

Luna looked towards the direction of the voice and found its origin sitting on one of the branches in the tree. The alicorn searched her memory briefly and had managed to recall who the being was, Dr. Mercer, the Imp that apparently commanded Oskar.

"And despite all this gold material, the best parts truly come afterwards, you know after you and those pathetic excuses for Evolved betrayed me," Mercer said bitingly, making Oskar let out something that sounded like a whimper. "Murdering that sea serpent, the old guard, a young griffin, her father and all of his loyal servants. Stealing valuable machinery from a nation and causing a recession, leading to thousands suffering just for your sake. The best part of all this, you can't blame me for it Oskar. You **KNOW** you could have just made yourself a new form and settled down here and lived a _peaceful_ and _happy_ life amongst locals. But you didn't, and you only have yourself to blame. Your _friends_ will one day find out what you are. And do you want to know what is going to happen? Not friendship, that is for certain. They are going to take those Elements of theirs and lock you up like the monster you are. That is what you'll be in their eyes, just a monster. But at least you'll always be **my** monster, right Oskar?"

"Now you hold there one moment you fiend!" Luna interrupted and stomped over. Oskar for his part only gave her a miserable glance before turning his gaze back down. "No pony is beyond redemption, no pony at all! However… the hardest part of redemption is not gaining the forgiveness of others but forgiving yourself. Trying to live with the consequences of one's own actions is not something that all can shoulder alone. Having good people with you, helping you live and grow despite the terrible burden of justified guilt. You have obviously found those that you find dear do you not? Is it not clear that being with them makes everything so much brighter?"

Mercer seemed to glare at Luna a moment as Oskar slowly looked up at her with wide eyes. Then the Doctor suddenly had this truly vicious looking grin on his expression.

"Your mother would have been extremely disappointed in what you became Oskar," Mercer said sadistically and seemed to grow intensely satisfied when he saw Oskar cover his ears and close his eyes tightly. "She would have HATED you! She would have wished you were dead! She would have wished she abor-"

"**ENOUGH OF YOUR POISON, VILE CREATURE!"** Luna boomed in anger, her eyes alit and horn glowing brightly. **"BEGONE FROM THIS DREAM!"**

A light leapt from Luna's horn and struck at Mercer. The vicious Evolved recoiled for brief moment as he was enshrouded by the light and suddenly he was no more.

Luna looked down at Oskar who was now staring up at her with wide eyes, silently mouthing words.

"D-dream… dream… this is a dream," Oskar said with horrified realization. "Y-you-your actually here…"

"Yes, and it's time we are properly acquainted Oskar," Luna said with a nod. "I am Princess L-"

"No, no, no, no, no, NO!" Oskar shouted as he grasped his head. "Wake up! WAKE UP! **WAKE UP!"**

Suddenly the flames seemed to come alive and swept over the lush half of the hill. The tree was burnt to a charred husk and the grass blackened and died. The flames continued off in the distance, consuming both Ponville and Canterlot, leaving burning ruins in its wake.

With that, a completely aghast Luna was propelled from a collapsing dream as the dreamer awakened.

**OMICRON**

Oskar inhaled sharply as his eyes shot open, and then he closed them with a groan before sitting up in his bed. The virus grasped the sides of his head as he started to take deep calming breaths.

'… _I deserved that for falling asleep,' _Oskar thought emotionlessly. _'I knew Luna could go into the dreams of others. She had written down that fact herself on those papers she had in her room. Yet I got careless and fell asleep anyway… idiot.'_

Along with Luna being in his dream, Oskar's couldn't help but think about the other occupant of that dream. Alex Mercer and the words he had said, saying how his mother would have hated him and would have regretted ever giving birth to him. And the worst part about it? Oskar found himself agreeing with Mercer.

'_Yeah, I'm a terrible person. A monster,_' Oskar thought in misery. _'She would have completely hated what I have become, so far from the kind and handsome man she predicted I'd turn into…'_

Oskar sat for several long moments in bed, basking in his own misery for what he was. Finally, his expression grew serious.

'_Well… I can't reverse what happened but I can go return what was hers.'_ With that thought, Oskar teleported.

**PI**

It was night, fast approaching the dawn of a new day and Oskar was near a cliff ledge chiseling marks into a stone with great care.

He had arrived here a few hours ago and had set to work on his goal. First he gathered up two large stones. He could have conjured them up, but it felt more appropriate to do it this way. Then he started carving each into a specific shape with painstaking care and slowness. Once he was done shaping the two stones, he started carving English letters into the surface of each one. Oskar had finished his task several minutes before the sunrise and stood back to study each stone.

Two gravestones sat before Oskar, the one on the left had the words 'Oskar Osäker, Proud Son' on it and the right had 'Adela Osäker, Cherished Mother'. Oskar studied both grave stones for a long moment before picking each one up and sinking it part way into the ground. Once both stones were secured into the ground, Oskar kneeled before Adela's gravestone.

'_I promise to never use his name or his form again. I don't deserve to be your son,' _Oskar thought, feeling very much like he was dead inside. _'Your son would have gone on to date that pretty girl you kept teasing him about, he would have opened his own bakery and started his own family, he would have made you proud… but I became this horrible monstrous __**thing**__! I'm s-sorry, so very sorry for using his name and form for as long as I did; neither he nor you deserved that… I will not ask for forgiveness, for I don't deserve it, and even were you alive I know you rightfully wouldn't give it. I know I deserve to die, but monsters always struggle for life and I am no different…'_

With that, the Evolved rose to his feet and turned to face the cliff edge and the horizon of the rising sun. Just before the sun rose beyond the horizon, Oskar Osäker closed his eyes.

And Emerald Gleaner opened them to see the light of a new day.

The viral unicorn faced the rising sun for a few moments before looking back at the two gravestones, one of a loving mother and the other of a son who should have died the moment his mother did.

'_I'm so very sorry…' _Emerald thought with teary eyes at Adela's grave.

Then with a sigh, Emerald started to walk away from the graves, leaving them sitting there by the Cliffside and always facing a rising sun.

**-TBC-**

AN: And there we have it, a chapter full of action and consequences that will remain with the story for a very long time. And we have Emerald laying her old identity to rest and taking on the one she created as a disguise here in Equestria. An uncertain future awaits our unlikely hero, there will be struggles for her to face that just being strong will not be enough to solve. Make no mistake, Emerald's newfound power has only caused more trouble than you can ever believe, things have been put in motion that cannot be stopped, they can only be dealt with as they arise. The biggest question now is… will she survive it? You'll have to wait for the future chapters to find out.

EN: Be glad that Legionary isn't a troll. The ending of this chapter would fit so perfectly that he could literally just say, "Surprise, end of story. All has happened, questions have been answered with many more popping up, and you will never know the answer to them because this story is over!" For me, it leaves me kind of confused. It feels so much like the ending to a story, and in a way it is, but this is only the beginning of this one. Still, a lot of action at the start and winding throughout the chapter, all leading up to this massive cliffhanger that's left me, and I'm pretty sure some of you as well, wondering what will happen next with Emerald Gleaner. From the looks of it, Oskar is dead. And from what I know of Legionary, which mind you is very little, I doubt he's going to be making a comeback. But that's just my opinion, so don't hold that against me, ye of photographic memory.


	3. Chapter 3: Making Friends

Emerald was in the tunnel leading down to the cavern city and was taking her time, thinking about what she had just done on a nearby cliff side. As she arrived down at the very bottom end of the tunnel, she noticed Belvedere waiting by the tunnel exit sitting on the floor.

"Hello Oskar," Belvedere greeted. He was still wearing his armor sans his helmet, which was beside him on the floor. "Pony form huh? Been a while since I saw you look like that."

"Hmm…" Emerald said and looked down at herself before reforming into her new base form, her female human form. "Call me Emerald, Belvedere."

"Oh," Belvedere said with a raised brow. "Okay Emerald. Is there a story behind your name change?"

"There is," Emerald answered, and there was a bit of a pause as Belvedere waited to see if she was going to explain further.

"Well what's next on the agenda then Boss?" Belvedere said when it became obvious she wasn't going to explain.

"Well… first things first," Emerald began, walking towards the city and Belvedere quickly got to his feet and started walking by her side. "We need to get back on track with the excavation. I'll be right to assume that you had the exaction stopped when the attack started right?"

"Yes boss," Belvedere said with a nod as the two of them entered the city streets.

"Well I want the dig started back up as soon as possible," Emerald said. "I don't want to keep the independent packs waiting too long for their proof."

"Of course boss," Belvedere said as he waved over an idle dog to have her pass along a message.

Emerald looked down a street when she heard a commotion and saw a bunch of Warhounds excitedly talking. One of the dogs happened to be the huge Diamond Dog, Padfoot, and he had Whisper Wind standing on his shoulder. Whisper Wind had this massive grin on her face as the various Warhounds surrounding her praised her for her help and happily retold her assists in the fight on the surface.

Emerald smiled at that, recalling when Whisper first arrived and was just a thief looking for loot. The Evolved became curious and wondered exactly why the thief didn't just hide herself away down in the tunnels where it was safe, and had instead stayed out and helped the Warhounds fight.

The two kept moving down the street, Emerald thinking about her friendly little prisoner and Belvedere silently at her side awaiting more commands if there was any. As they moved, they walked past two Warhounds sitting on a bench; one was a smaller breed that was much like a dachshund and the other was a larger boxer Diamond Dog. The boxer was flexing muscles gained by harsh training while the other one was staring down at his little arms with some exasperation.

"It's so hard to get any muscle for me," the dachshund complained. "You practically started building muscle the day you started training."

"It's alright," the boxer said to his little friend, patting his shoulder. "You're a little dog. You're never going to be as big as Padfoot, but you'll be faster."

"I know that," the little Warhound said with a huff. "I'm not expecting to be a huge mass of muscle, but I'm struggling to get any sort of muscle tone here."

"Can't really do anything about that I'm afraid," the Boxer said with a shake of his head. "The only thing you can do is just keep working at it."

"I know…" the little dog said with a sigh.

Emerald frowned thoughtfully as she considered what she just heard. Normally the boxer would be right and there wouldn't be much of anything you could do without drugs like steroids. However, Emerald was a sapient virus with centuries worth of memories in genetic engineering, courtesy of Gentek scientists. While she could make some drugs like steroids to assist her dogs in building muscle, she had a much better idea of going about it.

'_An interesting idea…' _Emerald thought. _'Of course, I wouldn't want to go on and try it out on the Warhounds without some proper testing. I'll go out and collect some animals and inject them with a retrovirus that'll suppress myostatin and observe what happens. While I'm at it, I might as well look at increasing bone density and stamina as well, make it a full package deal. If everything goes alright, I'll use it on the Warhounds. Now what to call this project? Hmm… heh, Project: Orion.'_

"Right, Belvedere," Emerald began. "I'll leave you to any work you might have. I'll be on the surface studying some books and machinery."

"Right, boss," Belvedere said and walked away when Emerald disappeared in a pink flash.

**ALPHA**

The next day found Emerald sitting outside, watching the sun reach noon and with an oddly ignored book on her lap. Nearby resting her wings was Whisper Wind, eating from a wooden bowl full of diced vegetables.

"Time to take my medicine," Whisper said as she started eating the diced vegetables.

"The suppressant for the virus isn't in there." Emerald stated, staring off into the calm blue sky.

"Wh-what?" Whisper said with some alarm. "Um… I am still going to get it later right? I mean, I have like only four more hours until the virus starts hurting me again!"

"No you don't," Emerald said with a shake of her head and looked intently at Whisper. "The last time I put something in your food, it wasn't the suppressant; it was the cure."

"You mean… I don't have the virus anymore?" Whisper said with wide eyes. "I don't have to worry about what would happen if I didn't take my medicine for a whole day?"

"It appears to be that way," Emerald said as she continued her intent look at Whisper. "Why did you help my dogs, Whisper? You could have just ran down to the city and stayed safe, and no one would have judged you for it, but you didn't. You stayed up here and helped the Warhounds fight the Timber Wolves. Why?"

"Wh-what? W-well I…" Whisper began nervously, tapping her hooves together rather adorably as she tried to think of an answer. "Well I've never had any real excitement in my life and I only found some excitement when I stole my first thing and uhh… and I like excitement! I mean stealing things weren't entirely… uh, well… what I REALLY mean to say is I like sneaking! **AND** excitement! And uh…"

"Whisper." Emerald interrupted Whisper's rambling; it was fairly clear to the virus that Whisper was trying to find her own reason for why she stayed on the surface, and frankly it wasn't completely important for Emerald to know. "The fact is, you helped us at risk to your own well-being. So I've decided to go out on a limb and let you 'off the leash' so to speak. So how does it feel to be free of the virus and the constant threat of death hovering over you?"

Whisper blinked and looked away from Emerald and up at the clear blue sky. She imagined herself flying away from Equestria under the cover of night for a moment, though it was soon replaced by memories of armoured dogs happily praising her for her help and her being held aloft, her ears filled with the sound of cheering. The convict shook her head clear of thoughts and looked back at Emerald.

"It feels great… boss," Whisper said with a smile, one that the virus gladly returned.

"I had taken this time to speak with you specifically," Emerald said. "Is there anything at all I can do to make you feel more comfortable living here?"

"Well, could I get my own place up here?" Whisper asked hopefully. "I know the Diamond Dogs like being underground, but I prefer the sky being above me."

"Easily done," Emerald replied. "So… how about you get a position in the Warhounds huh? I don't intend for you to be a frontline fighter though. No, far from it. You are obviously someone whose skills need to be utilised in a far more intelligent way than just tossing you at the enemy."

"Hmm…" Whisper tilted her and stared at Emerald. "I don't know… I mean I am kind of bored… and that fight was making my heart race wonderfully… SURE! Why not! I'll give it a try. Giving it a try is the least I can do, right?"

"Yes, and if it doesn't work out you can stop being a Warhound," Emerald said with a shrug. "You lose nothing, but can gain so much if it works out."

"At least I'll get my wings back in shape," Whisper said, fluttering said wings pointedly.

"I'll handle your training schedule tomorrow," Emerald said with a nod. "Rest and relax while you can. The training won't break you, but you'll definitely be pushed to your limits each and every time. I'll be off to do some other business I've put off."

"I hope I don't regret this…" Whisper said as the virus disappeared in a flash.

Emerald reappeared in the tunnel leading to the excavation of Nidhogg's skeleton… or rather she ended up a few feet above the tunnel she intended to appear in. With a put upon sigh, Emerald shifted into a mass of tendrils and quickly drilled down through the ceiling of the tunnel. Landing with a soft thump, Emerald quickly reformed in her base form.

The tunnel was larger than the last time she had been there, having been expanded by the Diamond Dogs to make room for Nidhogg's large bones which were already being gathered in a pile off to the side.

"Hello boss!" shouted a large dog as he and several of his fellows carried a rib bone from the excavation.

Emerald nodded in greeting as she walked past the group as they maneuvered the bone into position. Approaching the mouth of the excavation entrance, Emerald quickly stepped to the side as several Diamond Pups run out of the cavern giggling, bones just small enough for their mouths in their tiny jaws.

"Hey you lot, get back here with those!" shouted a dog as he ran after them.

Emerald smiled at that and gave a double take at the dog chasing after the puppies.

'_Huh, Rover,'_ Emerald thought before making her way into the cavern. _'Been a while since I've talked with him. Wonder how he and his friends are doing? Maybe I'll look for them and ask them myself one day.'_

Most of the cavern Nidhogg had claimed as his was still completely buried in rock, along with his vast gem hordes, though only the area where the dragon had died and the needed space to remove the bones had been excavated. Standing on the very fringes of the digging dogs, Belvedere stood overseeing everything like a lordly hawk, his stance and current attire only added to the effect.

Thanks to his nature as a greyhound, Belvedere wasn't as top heavy as most dogs. This meant he could stand on his hind legs far longer than most dogs and took advantage of this by standing upright and crossing his arms imperiously. Instead of the usual Diamond Dog vest or even his Warhound armor, Belvedere was actually wearing a faded dark blue long coat that reminded Emerald a lot of the one she wore for her Gray Fox form.

"Hello Belvedere," Emerald said as she came to a stop beside the alpha.

"Emerald," Belvedere greeted with a nod, eyes still focused on the digging dogs below.

"Nice coat," Emerald said with a pointed smile. "Where did you get it if you don't mind me asking?"

"I got it from that ruin over there," Belvedere said, pointing a thumb over his shoulder at a carved stone column with a hole beside it. "This place used to be the capital city of the Diamond Dog Kingdom. With Nidhogg living here in its ruins, we've never been able to look through it and salvage until now."

Taking a closer look at the coat Belvedere was wearing, Emerald saw that the only thing wrong with it was that it's once deep blue dye was fading. A hundred years of neglect in a musty old cave with a dragon stomping around, occasionally letting off bursts of fire and a cave-in, yet that was the only thing wrong with it.

"Woven by one of the spider families out of their silk," Belvedere said at Emerald's curious stare. "With the material this coat is made of, it can function as armor; probably just as well as chainmail if not better."

"Spider silk armor," Emerald said with a thoughtful look.

'_Spider silk would make an excellent under armor for plating,' _Emerald thought as she watched the dogs dig out Nidhogg's skull; apparently more than a few of them had taken to crudely writing insults on it. _'One issue though. While I can make spider silk, I don't know how to weave it… I don't know how to make much of any clothes to tell the truth. Hmm…'_

"Do you think we can re-establish contact with the spider families?" Emerald asked.

"It's a possibility." Belvedere frowned. "It's been a hundred years though. It's unlikely that anyone that remembers the trade between our races are still alive, which would mean we would have to establish a new trade contract, which is a task in itself."

"Oh? Why is that?" Emerald asked.

"The spider families practically rivaled the old Diamond Dog Kingdom in isolationism," Belvedere answered. "Unless you are invited inside, any one of the families would attack you the moment you stepped into their caves. And getting an invitation isn't easy; I recall stories from the elders talking about some dogs waiting up to a week outside the spider caves just to be told they weren't interested in talking."

"Troublesome," Emerald muttered.

"Indeed."

As Emerald pondered the spider families, one of the dogs below suddenly tossed something black and shiny out of the hole he was digging. It landed a short distance away from Emerald and the virus walked over to look at it.

It appeared to be one of Nidhogg's scales. It shone like polished jet and upon having a closer look at the dig, Emerald saw that the floor of it was covered in black scales of every size. Looking back down at the scale in her hand, Emerald gained a thoughtful look on her face.

"Got an idea, boss?" Belvedere asked.

"Yep," Emerald replied and brandished the scale at the Alpha. "Got an idea for a useful shrub."

**BETA**

"So…" Twilight began unenthusiastically with a sigh, Navi perched upon one of her ears. "What's on the list, Spike?"

Twilight was in the guest bedroom that would be occupied by Sweetie Belle whenever she decided to stay with her sister. Scrolls and books were piled neatly nearby a desk that had been salvaged from the library; while there was certainly a lot of them, there wasn't nearly as much as was expected of the unicorn. It was a fact that was causing Rarity and Spike some worry as it was unlike the book loving unicorn.

Navi trilled in worry from her spot on Twilight's ear.

"You know what I'm thinking about Navi…" Twilight said softly, and the little bug snuggled against her cheek for a moment before darting into her mane.

"I don't!" Spike exclaimed, waving his quill and roll of parchment in the air. "What's wrong Twilight?"

"Spike… what's on the list?" Twilight asked pointedly, looking away from the little dragon.

"Well…" Spike began with a troubled frown at Twilight avoiding his question. "First thing is quills, which we have, so check. Next is parchment, which I had just finished putting away after picking it up; check. Ink is up next and… Twilight, are you even paying attention?!"

"Hmm?" Twilight said, looking away from the window she was looking out morosely. "Oh don't worry Spike, I'm paying attention. Just keep going."

Spike was worried before, but now he was definitely concerned for Twilight. She found making checklists _fun_, but now she was just miserably going through the motions, treating it more like the chore everyone else thought it was. It was then that the baby dragon decided it was better that Twilight was feeling _anything_ other than misery and started racking his mind for something to do just that. After a few moments, he recalled the fact that Twilight hadn't sent a friendship report in a week. While he normally wouldn't have given that fact a second thought, he knew that Twilight would flip her lid over such a thing.

"Friendship report!" Spike shouted.

"Huh?" Twilight said with some confusion and looked over her shoulder at him.

"You haven't written a friendship report in a week!" Spike shouted, smiling perhaps a bit too eagerly. "You're supposed to write one _every_ week!"

That seemed to do the trick as Twilight widened her eyes and frowned worriedly. But after a moment, Spike grew less happy at his accomplishment as Twilight's frown twitched between worry and apathy. It was getting to the point that she was even looking like she was forcing herself to become worried. After several moments, Twilight released a loud sigh and her expression become affixed in one of tired indifference.

"I'll just wait until I have something about friendship to write to the Princess about, Spike," Twilight said, causing Spike to gape at her and drop his quill and scroll, and even Navi popped her little head out to trill questioningly at Twilight. "I'm sure Celestia won't mind if my friendship report is late… now that I think about it, I can't exactly be expected to learn something new _every_ week. Eventually the flow of new lessons in friendship is going to slow down."

"Yeah… right," Spike said, shaking his head clear and picking his dropped quill and parchment.

Twilight couldn't help but think about what kind of friendship report she would give if she did write one to the princess.

'_Dear Princess Celestia_

_I learned that you should always remain loyal to your friends, even if they jeopardized the stability of an entire kingdom and murdered innocent ponies._

_Your obviously delusional student,_

_Twilight Sparkle'_

Twilight didn't know whether to laugh in hysteria or helplessness. She was absolutely certain Princess Celestia did not have this in mind when she sent her here to learn the meaning of friendship. But she was here now and learning more about friendship then she thought she would, including aspects of friendship she didn't realise could ever exist. She was a good pony and didn't dream of ever breaking even the most minor of laws, yet she found herself keeping silent about Emerald's horrible crimes, all for the sake of the bond between them…

Spike's concern skyrocketed when he saw Twilight grow ever more miserable and he quickly swept his gaze over the list in his hands, looking for something that would engage Twilight in some way. He found something that might do the trick.

"You know about that picnic everyone is going have later today?" Spike said. "The cupcakes you ordered for it should be done by now. How about we go pick them up?"

"Sure, let's go Spike," Twilight said as she led the way.

The two plus one parasprite soon left Rarity's boutique and made their way for Sugarcube Corner. As they moved through the town, they happened to pass what was once the ruins of Twilight's library.

The shattered remains of the hollow tree Twilight had lived in was long gone, cleared up by workers. In its place was a mostly formless mass of timber, brick and scaffolding as construction workers set about building Twilight's new library. The unicorn considered it too bad that they simply couldn't rebuild her old home, as she had grown quite fond of it, but nothing could be done as her home had been grown and not actually built in the first place.

Passing what was to be their new home in the near future, the group continued on to their destination. Before long, they arrived.

"Just a moment!" Twilight heard Mrs. Cake shout from the back when she entered the bakery.

"Oh, hello Twilight dear!" Mrs. Cake said cheerfully as she appeared from the kitchen. "Are you here for your cupcakes?"

"Yes I am," Twilight answered. "Are they ready?"

"Yes they are, one moment," Mrs. Cake said and disappeared back into the kitchen briefly before coming back out with a white box. "Here you are, one dozen cupcakes plus one!"

"Plus one?" Twilight said.

"I had a spare," the baker answered. "Do you mind if I ask if you've heard back from Emerald yet? It's been such a long time since the dear has come by for her favorite donuts or to lend a hoof in the kitchen."

Twilight seemed to tense up at the question for a brief moment before seeming to force herself to loosen up and levitated the box of cupcakes over.

"Did I say something wrong?" Mrs. Cake asked in concern.

"No you didn't, it's fine," Twilight said a bit unconvincingly. "Emerald has… not contacted me yet from her… journey."

"Oh… do you know when she'll be back though?" Mrs. Cake asked.

"No," Twilight stated, perhaps more gruffly then she intended to, and quickly turned about and left the bakery, leaving a near speechless Mrs. Cake in her wake.

"Wow Twilight… don't you think you were a little rude back there?" Spike said as he quickly jogged after the agitated unicorn.

"…Twilight?" Spike asked when she didn't answer.

The violet unicorn was currently thinking about Emerald again, her mind trying to come to terms with the unicorn that had made several dear friends amongst the people of Ponyville and someone that had killed hundreds of people, quite possibly their only crime either being in her way or being in the wrong place at the wrong time. For every memory of Emerald interacting with the others, Twilight imagined her ending a poor innocent's life.

'_I… I can't think like this!' _Twilight thought in distress. _'I hav- I have to do…. I need to distract myself.'_

"So uh, the next thing on the list is-" Spike began.

"We can finish the list some other time Spike," Twilight interrupted. "I'm going back to Rarity's to read a book."

Again Spike dropped his quill and parchment and, had he the ability, his jaw no doubt would have joined the items on the ground. He simply stared as Twilight teleported in a flash of light and left him standing in the street.

Twilight sighed tiredly as she arrived back in the guest room of Rarity's boutique. She placed the box of cupcakes on the bedside table and walked over to the stacks of books she had beside her desk. Searching through them, Twilight looked for something appropriate for light reading and soon picked out a book. Pulling out the weighty doorstopper of a book on magical theory, Twilight opened it on her desk and began to read.

However, as she did so, she couldn't help but think about something Emerald told her about the world she had come from. Namely about the fact that the world she originated from lacked magic in any way barring the most simple of illusions that only needed a slight of hoof and knowing how to distract a crowd.

'_A people, a whole world without magic,' _Twilight thought with some wonder. _'What kind of society does that create? Let's see… for one they wouldn't be able to control the environment as well as we could. Emerald mentioned that the only sapient species in the world were humans, and by the look of her she didn't have wings, so just by that fact alone shipping items over long distances would be far more difficult. How did Earth Ponies manage before the three tribes joined together? Far slower than what they could do working with pegasi anyway. They can't make crops grow with ease, and natural disasters like storms, floods and blizzards would have to simply be weathered until they passed. But wait… if they can't control the environment because they don't have magic, then what makes the sun and moon rise and set? Who takes care of the animals and wakes them up from hibernation? It can't be humans. Without magic, there isn't any clear way they could move celestial objects, and without it, it might be more trouble than it's worth to care for the animals… oh my gosh… it's like Everfree… a whole __**world**__ is like the Everfree! An entire world is like the one place where if you aren't careful the animals __**will**__ kill you! Just what kind of effect does that have on a society that would form there?'_

'_Competition,'_ Twilight thought with certainty. _'Humans are omnivores from what I understand, and so need to feed off both flora and fauna to survive. They need to both compete with herbivores for the plants they are able to eat and with carnivores for animals to prey on. That sets the bar though. Violence is the answer to the basest problem and creates a bad precedent for the future when another group of people grow large enough and encroach on their hunting grounds. Do they speak with the competitors for food and space? Negotiate to satisfy both parties? No, there is already an answer for competition; violence. Diplomacy is eventually invented, there is just no way, eventually you meet somepony who is better than you but it's too late, the damage has been done and the spectre of violence overhangs over everything. Society grows bigger, space is claimed, tensions rise, base answer to competition brought up once again… in recorded history there has been a major conflict only a few times. I can only imagine just how many dozens more wars the humans have recorded in their history… well, that explains why Emerald has such a capacity for violence.'_

"Err, Twilight?" the unicorn heard from behind her.

"You know the picnic is starting soon," Spike said to her. "If we don't leave soon, we'll be late… unless you don't want to go that is."

"What? No, I want to go to the picnic," Twilight said and turned away from her desk. "But I thought it wasn't for a few hours yet?"

"You were standing there staring at that book for a long time Twilight," Spike said. "It seemed like it was important from the way you looked, so I didn't interrupt you."

"What? Has that much time really… never mind, let's get going Spike," Twilight said and made way for the door while levitating the cupcake box along with her.

The two made good time, quickly reaching the outskirts of town where the picnic was going to be, arriving early enough that the others were just arriving and beginning to set down the cloth and the food.

"Twilight, darling!" Rarity waved over to her friend happily. "How are… Twilight, you look terrible. Whatever is the matter?"

"What? I do?" Twilight said, looking for a reflective surface of any kind.

"Rarity is right. You do look a bit stressed, Twilight," Fluttershy said softly. "Is there something bothering you?"

"It's… well it's about… I can't say, girls," Twilight said sadly with a shake of her head, feeling like she'd rather tell the truth there and then.

"It's about Emerald, isn't it, Twilight?" Rarity asked, and the unicorn answered her question by looking away from her. "What happened between you two? The both of you were such good friends… did one of you say something you're both coming to regret?"

"Rarity, please. I can't… I don't…" Twilight sighed tiredly before opening her box of cupcakes and bringing it up to take a bite. "Let's not talk about it, okay?"

Everyone shared a look at that, deeply curious as to what caused such an obviously painful rift between Twilight and Emerald. But at the same time, they didn't want to force Twilight to say anything she didn't feel comfortable sharing, so…

"Alright darling," Rarity said, feeling like was it against her better judgement to do so. "You don't have to say anything more."

"Thank you Rarity," Twilight said with some relief. "I don't mean to ruin the picnic. Let's just eat and have fun, okay?"

And so they did; or they tried to at least. Thoughts of whatever could have happened between Emerald and Twilight dominated their thoughts.

**GAMMA**

Loose stones fell from the ceiling as Emerald lead a large group of Warhounds down a tunnel.

Nidhogg's skeleton had been fully excavated after a full day of work and was now being pulled down a tunnel that had been freshly expanded by another group of Warhounds. Of course, Nidhogg being the massive dragon he was meant they couldn't realistically bring along his entire skeleton. Just bringing his two fore claws, half a rib cage and his skull was already pushing it as it was, not to mention how hard it was to pull along the trailer carrying the skeleton on the rough tunnel floor.

Despite these issues, there weren't any complaints from the Warhounds. They were used to being worked excessively hard with food that was barely enough. They weren't going complain about pulling a heavy load when they were fit, well rested and, most importantly, well-fed. Not to mention the fact Emerald herself wasn't just walking them along and was helping with the load as well.

"Just a bit further everyone!" Emerald shouted as she motioned towards the tunnel exit a hundred feet away. "We're almost there, keep pulling!"

Knowing they were almost done seemed to invigorate the armored dogs and they pulled with greater energy, the trailer picking up speed noticeably. Before long, the trailer was pulled out into the open of the cavern that held the independent Diamond Dog village.

A fairly large crowd had gathered in the cavern, far more dogs than could reasonably live in the village behind them, the sound of their chatter filling the ears of Emerald and the Warhounds. With their arrival into the cavern with Nidhogg's skeleton pulled along behind them, the sense of excitement grew.

The little Alpha with the Scottish accent approached them, his long dual headed club resting on his shoulder.

"Now that there is a right beastie if I ever saw one," he commented and looked at Emerald. "Now where be the lad from before? Expected him to be here for this."

"That was me," Emerald said to the little Alpha's obvious incredulity, and quickly shifted between her pony form and back to base form for proof. "You can expect me to be in this form more often than not though."

"Right. Whatever floats your boat lassy," the Alpha said with a dismissive wave and pointed towards the crowd. "We got some elders who were around when Nidhogg attacked. They should be able to tell if you're telling the truth or not."

"Provided they can actually tell if this belongs to him," Emerald pointed out as her Warhounds pulled the trailer to a stop before the chattering crowd.

"Not exactly helping your own case there lass," the Alpha said with a raised brow.

"It's an issue I'm going to have to deal with nonetheless," Emerald stated and watched as a group of fairly ancient looking Diamond Dogs stepped forward to examine the large skeleton.

At first, the old dogs were just whispering to each other in hushed tones and pointing at the partial skeleton of Nidhogg. However, the volume of their speech soon began to raise and anger seemed to seep into their voices. It didn't seem to be anger directed at the skeleton, but rather each other. They appeared to be getting into a steadily fiery argument over whether or not this was Nidhogg's skeleton.

"Look at the size of it!" one elder shouted in latin, waving a cane at the skeleton furiously. "It's massive! It can't be anyone but Nidhogg's!"

"Oh, and when was the last time _you_ saw a dragon's skeleton?" Another elder scowled. "This might be just as big as all the others!"

"You're one to talk, you egotistical equine!" the other snarled back, making the other gape before glaring back with pure loathing. "You've never seen a dragon other than Nidhogg before, if you could actually remember what he really looked like! I heard you were hiding in the dry room when the attack started!"

"WHAT?!"

While the dogs started to argue in earnest, another old dog started to slowly walk out of the crowd, his exact breed not entirely clear. He was even older looking than the others, judging from the way his skin clung to his head and neck. His body was likely skeletal if it wasn't hidden from view by a sleeveless brown robe. Most of the top of his head was scar tissue, and the way the tissue seamlessly formed over his eyes made it clear he was blind. He had only one arm; the other was a stump that ended at his bicep, providing just enough of a limb to use a crutch.

Upon seeing the maimed old dog walk towards the skeleton, the crowd quietened from their amused muttering of watching the elders fight. The elders themselves stopped their arguing when they spotted the maimed old dog walk by them and watched him approach the skeleton silently.

"Who is that?" Emerald whispered to the little Alpha beside her.

"That's just Old Fenrir," the alpha said with a shrug. "He used to be somebody in the old kingdom. Didn't really ask what sort of somebody though."

The old dog reached the skeleton and began feeling along its surface with his only hand. He stumbled about as he seemed to be looking for something until he finally found it. When his paw moved over the gap of Nidhogg's mouth the maimed dog paused in his movements and reached within. When his hand touched one of the teeth, he almost seemed to recoil before grasping the teeth firmly. After a moment, he let go of the tooth and backed away from the skull, hand feeling the stump where his other arm used to be as he did so.

"This is Nidhogg," a surprisingly strong voice came from the maimed dog. "Without a certainty of a doubt."

"See!" one elder shouted at her compatriot. "The Captain knows this is Nidhogg! And he's blind!"

"Maybe so…" the other elder shouted back as more than half of the others began to agree. "But like you said, he's blind."

"YOU DOUBT HIM!?"

Another argument began to rage and the crowd seemed to join them as they didn't know what to think. Emerald paid no attention to any of this. Her attention was focused purely on the old maimed dog. Said old dog seemed to ignore everything else and stare in the direction of Nidhogg's skeleton despite the lack of eyes.

Without thinking, Emerald walked towards the old dog, utterly ignored by everyone in the cavern save for the little Alpha. As she closed in on him, the maimed dog seemed to somehow sense her approach and turned to face her, scarred over eye sockets seeming to stare into her eyes.

She came to a stop before the old maimed dog and kneeled down. Staring into his scarred over sockets for a few moments, Emerald slowly lifted both hands towards him and stopped just before touching him. Seeing him not react in any way, Emerald placed one hand over his stump and the other over his scarred eye sockets. Then she began to work.

While Emerald's magical control was shot by taking in Draconequis DNA, her viral control had only skyrocketed. This meant that, unlike before when she reconstructed limbs for her dogs, she didn't need ten minutes of steady work to do it right. No, now she only needed ten seconds.

Tendrils leapt out from her hands and into the scarred flesh. Localised painkillers were delivered and went into effect instantly. Viral biomass flowed in a black surge and quickly started replacing scarred flesh and taking on different shapes on a cellular level. Bones formed, muscles took shape, veins and capillaries were strung through the flesh, pale pink skin covered the bare muscle and was soon covered in gray fur, before finally a pair of intense icy blue eyes appeared as newly formed eyelids finished taking shape.

There were shouts of awe and amazement as Fenrir began to taking loud breaths, happiness from regained sight and arm beginning to overwhelm him. He took in the sight of both his arms for a few moments before beginning to scan over the cavern, trying to take in every single detail of everyone and everything until he suddenly stiffened and calmed.

Shooting a death glare the likes of which would have even given a Stare-ing Fluttershy pause, Fenrir threw away his crutch and approached Nidhogg's skull. Coming to a stop before the skull, Fenrir suddenly drew in a loud nasally breath that made it quite obvious to everyone watching what he was about to do next.

Fenrir's large loogie flew far and splattered loudly against the forehead bone of Nidhogg's skull.

"That was for the kingdom," Fenrir growled lowly before facing Emerald. "Thank you. I don't know how just yet, but I shall return this favour."

"Gift," Emerald corrected with a shake of her head. "There is nothing to repay."

"Even so," Fenrir said, and turned to face a horde of excited dogs approaching him and examining his restored eyes and arm themselves.

"That was a kind and miraculous thing you did, lass." Emerald looked over her shoulder to see the little Alpha standing behind her.

"Lass," the Alpha began and took off his beret. "I and quite a few of me fellow Alphas couldn't care less that you killed the old bat. But what you did here… I am willing to go out on a limb and trust you over that."

"So you'll hear what I have to say?" Emerald asked as she got up to her feet.

"I'll even put in a good word for ya," the little Alpha replied with a smile.

"Great." Emerald smiled. "So what do I call you?"

"I'm Alpha Degroot of this charming little hamlet in the middle of nowhere," the Alpha replied with a faux grandiose wave of his arm. "But _you_ can call me Tavish, lass."

"So when can I expect to meet all of you in a more formal sense, Tavish?" Emerald asked.

"Couple days, lass." Tavish replied. "The others honestly thought nothing serious was going to happen for a long while yet, but you give me a good feeling and me good feelings 'ave never done me wrong. So we'll go see that fine little nation you got hidden away under the Everfree."

"You know about that?" Emerald blinked.

"Aye. Your dogs may know a thing or two about tunneling and caving, but they be a shadow of what their ancestors were," Tavish said with a wide toothy smile. "**WE** never forgot what our people learned over the centuries. We could dig circles around your best, hehehe."

"Ah…" Emerald said with a scratch of her head. She hadn't expected this. "Well since you already know the way, I don't need to give you directions. I'll just head back now and await your group's arrival."

"Nothing to be ashamed about lass!" Tavish shouted at her cheerfully as she walked away. "Nobody's great at everything!"

"Well…" Emerald began at her sheepish looking Warhounds. "Looks like we are going to be learning a few things aren't we?"

"Just another thing on the list, boss."

"Yep."

**DELTA**

About a week later found Emerald waving at a small group of distinguishing Alphas from the independent packs walking into the cavern city. Tavish lead the group as everyone took in their surroundings.

"Welcome to the Enclave!" Emerald greeted with a bit of a strained smile. This was her first formal diplomatic meeting and she felt she needed to dress appropriately, so she wore a knee length dark green skirt with black hose, a white dress shirt and dark green coat buttoned up… and she was regretting it. She felt rather uncomfortable wearing feminine clothes when it wasn't absolutely necessary. Upon seeing the casual looking clothes the Alphas were wearing, she knew it wasn't. The virus was just glad she didn't go for the heels and makeup.

"Hello!" Tavish greeted with a wide grin. "Quite the get up you got there lass!"

"I've… never done this before," Emerald said honestly with a groan. "I figured I was supposed to dress formally for it."

"I for one am glad _someone_ actually treats meetings like this seriously," said one Alpha. She was a german shepherd looking breed and was wearing a dark brown sleeveless coat with light brown fleece lining; under that was a white vest with large buttons.

"No one has time for that, Fasha," one beagle looking Alpha grumbled.

"You never have time for anything. It's a miracle your lazy hide was recognised as an Alpha," Fasha sniped.

"Let's keep the infighting for later, huh?" Tavish said cheerfully before turning his attention back to Emerald. "What I want to see is what you did with those machines you stole from Equestria."

"Just how much do you know about what I've done?" Emerald frowned.

"Oh, it wasn't hard to figure out." Tavish smiled slyly. "Especially when you know the only pack of Diamond Dogs with the numbers the Gray Fox commanded was Nidhogg's lot. After I met you, I just put two and two together."

"Oh… well would you like to see the machines?" Emerald said and couldn't help but feel like some corporate tour guide.

"Lead the way lass," Tavish said.

The group started moving through the city, the Alphas taking in the sights and sounds of the city Emerald helped to create. The dogs she lead were also looking at the Alphas following her in curiosity. The only times they had seen a dog from the independent packs was when they were caught wandering into Nidhogg's territory, and those had never ended well for them. Now though, they didn't have to worry about following the cruel dragon's will.

"A bit crude looking," Fasha commented as she took in the tall stone apartment buildings. "But they fulfill their purpose."

"What few elders we have are trying to instill the skills of the old kingdom in the dogs," Emerald replied. "But it's slow going and the buildings we already have up take time to be replaced. Someday I intend to have much nicer homes for my dogs, but for now these will do."

"_Someday_. Right," Fasha said with some doubt.

At that, Emerald came to a stop and turned around. She was about to say something when she noticed several dogs had heard and didn't like the implication of what Fasha had said and were advancing angrily on the group. Emerald halted them with a raised hand.

"I don't have to prove anything to you," Emerald stated calmly to Fasha. "But I've taken a people devastated by slavery and turned them around within a year. Most of us may not be on the level of intelligence of the people you are used to, but my people don't shy away from hard work and are rapidly catching up. I'd like to see you accomplish anything close to what I've done in that time."

For a long moment, Fasha simply stared evenly at Emerald, and then she smiled lightly at her.

"I can see a powerful will in those eyes of yours," Fasha said with a pleased growl. "It's always nice to meet a leader with a backbone."

Emerald seemed to relax at that statement, her expression becoming less serious. Then Tavish poked his head between her and Fasha.

"We going to see some stolen machines or what?" Tavish asked.

"I'm talking with someone that actually deserves some respect, you moronic blockhead," Fasha growled dangerously.

"Oh I'm shaking in me wee little booties!" Tavish said before gasping dramatically. "Oh wait! I ain't wearing booties!"

"Let's just get going you two," the Alpha from before yawned.

"Yes, let's," Emerald agreed and turned about to continue leading the way.

Upon reaching the stairway heading down towards where the factory floor was located, the group paused for a moment. Emerald quickly got everyone wearing ear protection and some safety goggles before giving them a short safety lecture, then they continued; the last thing Emerald wanted was one of them getting pulled into a machine by their fur.

After making their way down a long staircase, Emerald lead them through a pair of double doors and the Alphas found themselves being thankful for the earmuffs; if it was this loud with them on, they could only imagine what it was like with them off.

The room was very long and its ceiling was very high. Electric lights lined the ceiling and long production lines with various mechanical arms stretched along the entire length of the room, deafening in their activity. Various Diamond Dogs darted the room, some with their fur cut short and all wearing hard hats, earmuffs, safety vests and safety goggles.

Emerald walked over to a panel on the wall and flipped some of the switches on it. The lights on the ceiling switched colors and turned yellow. The Diamond Dogs on the factory floor took in this change calmly and went about their work. However as time went on, more and more of the machines slowed to a stop and eventually all of them were turned off.

Emerald walked towards the stopped machines and motioned for the earmuffs on the Alphas' ears. The Alphas took off their ear protection as they approached the production line Emerald was beside.

"Now this room is one of a few others, but this one is the largest one," Emerald explained. "The others are focused on more mundane things like creating machine parts, but this one is focused on making weapon parts."

"Weapons, huh?" Fasha said as she examined the metal pieces on the belt. They obviously weren't finished just yet and looked kind of like the stock of a crossbow, only metal. But why in the world was the Enclave making so many crossbows? "Planning to go to war with someone?"

"I am not, no," Emerald said firmly. "However, there will always be conflict. I'd rather have something and not need it than need it and not have it in this case."

"A bit paranoid ain't cha lass?" Tavish said as he picked up the partially built gun. "You make it sound like wars happen all the time. The last I recall, there hasn't been one in a thousand years."

"For me they are," Emerald replied and got stares from everyone. She noticed the lazy Alpha was looking at her with seemingly sleepy eyes but she could see the intense concentration in those eyes as he pondered an interesting puzzle. "Either way, I don't want to get complacent and end up getting blindsided by something simple preparation would have prevented."

"Hmm…" the lazy Alpha hummed contemplatively. "You have industry, you have strong soldiers and from what I can tell you have a sure fire way of keeping everyone fed… the way I see it the only thing you could want is more bodies to get more work done."

"So that's what you want," Tavish said thoughtfully as everyone continued to stare at her.

Emerald was currently reassessing what she thought was going to happen when she got in contact with the independent packs. Of course all of them weren't going to flood back just because a new Diamond Dog nation had been formed. It had been a hundred years since the day the old kingdom was burned down by Nidhogg. Nearly the entire population of independent packs had to be made up of people who had grown up in their own little settlements. She now doubted she was ever going to get all of the independent packs to join her nation, with them having been used to being on their own plus the fact she was a stranger to them and most people were averse to being ruled by someone they did not know in some way.

What Emerald needed was something of value to give them to foster good will, as well as entice a people to giving living here a try. She then remembered an issue with food she had solved before it became a real problem. Diamond Dogs were carnivores; while they didn't mind vegetables being mixed in with their meats, they still required a mostly meat diet. She imagined the biggest limiting factor on population growth for the old kingdom and the independent packs was the food supply, as meat needed a lot of work to collect in great numbers. Emerald, however, had circumvented most of the work needed by creating trees that _grew_ meat and could subsist on the vilest of bio-matter.

"We only have a population of ten thousand. While fairly large for a _criminal organization,_ it's sadly small when it comes to a nation," Emerald admitted. "Now I am not asking for whole packs to uproot themselves, or you to strong-arm dogs into coming here. What I want is for your people to consider us whenever they are thinking of settling down in someplace they can call their own."

"Now you are right when you said our food supply is not a problem," Emerald continued, gesturing at the lazy Alpha. "And I imagine that is an always present issue for your people. So, as a token of good will, I want to set up a weekly shipment of meat for the independent packs with no strings attached."

"Free meat?" Tavish said, his mouth already salivating. "That there is a mighty enticing gift."

"Just how much meat are we talking?" the lazy Alpha asked curiously. "Our combined population has never been counted, but I'm fairly certain we number at least half a million."

"Given some reorganization of our food supply, I am absolutely certain none of your people will go hungry ever again," Emerald said confidently.

The lazy Alpha's eyes widened a little bit. He knew just how many _tons _of meat half a million mouths could eat a day. If he wasn't before, he was definitely wondering how she was getting so much meat now.

"HA!" Tavish shouted with a delighted clap of his hands before rubbing them together eagerly. "This is a great deal! The _least_ we can do is encourage some lads and lasses to go see if they would like to live here."

"Stealing our people's hearts and minds by feeding their stomachs?" Fasha stated with a sly smile. "An effective if costly tactic."

"Not for me," Emerald stated simply before motioned one of the workers over. "Go find Belvedere and tell him I'd like to talk to him about our food supply soon."

"Yes boss," the worker said before taking off.

"Now is there anything else you wanted to see?" Emerald asked.

"Don't know about you lot, but I'm hungry!" Tavish said, and got agreeing nods from his fellow Alphas. "Let's go have ourselves a taste of that meat we'll be getting so much of."

"Right this way," Emerald said, motioning back to the doors they entered through. "We have a communal cafeteria that should be about ready to serve up food for everyone."

"And after eating, I want to have another go at your soldiers!"

"Of course. I'm sure they want the same thing, Tavish."

**EPSILON**

A week later found Emerald outside late in the afternoon, listening to a dog ramble off a progress report while she herself was studying some machines she had taken from Cloudsdale.

"The extensions to the meat tree chamber are finished," Fido rumbled softly, reading off a small clipboard he was holding. "The final seeds are planted and should be finished growing by the end of the day. The messy work of expanding the sewage cavern beneath the chamber has already been finished and the beginnings of the sewage pipes you planned are being put in place."

"Great. Any progress on the water lines?" Emerald asked as she stared down at the book in her lap.

"Those are being done along with the sewage lines currently," Fido rumbled. "Great pains are being taken to not confuse the two."

"Probably a good idea." Emerald nodded with a small smile. "Anything else?"

"No boss," Fido said.

"You may go then," Emerald said and returned her attention to the large… urn like machine used to make the weather. However, after a moment, she returned her attention back to the book in her lap and starting writing in it.

At first the weather machines had been interesting to her, considering they produced Equestria's weather. But after she had gained Flim and Flam's skills, she had lost a lot of her interest. Now that she could understand the machines' inner workings, she thought of them as simply advanced fog machines. And since she could understand them now, she decided she didn't need them anymore, thinking that their presences weren't exactly welcome by Sovereign considering the machines were one of the things ponies used to suppress the "cycle". So she decided she was going to bring the machines back along with the books after she was done reading them, which she nearly was. No doubt the Princesses would appreciate them back, considering what had happened to Cloudsdale.

Finishing filling up both pages with writing, Emerald turned to the next page. The book she was writing was an autobiography; not of her life though. She was writing this book for a project she had been planning for a while, although at the moment she was a bit in doubt if the project was still viable considering the ambiguity around whether or not she was still welcome in Equestria.

And with that thought, all attempts to focus on work ended in futility for Emerald. No matter what, she just found herself thinking about Ponyville and all the times she had spent with her friends. The virus had no choice but to admit the truth to herself; she was homesick. This place had really changed her. She recalled a day when she hoped for an accident to claim the lives of one the Mane Six during one of their many adventures, and she remembered when she didn't shy from murder when she knew she could get away with it. But now thoughts of hurting _any_ of her friends were painful and nearly unthinkable, and she now considered Ponyville her home, when before she knew with certainty the only home she'd ever know was burnt to a cinder. And now she always sought a better way to accomplish her tasks that didn't end in needless death. She could have easily solved any issues that could have erupted from letting the Flim Flam brothers go by simply killing them, but she didn't.

Yes, she was a changed person; a monster with a heart instead of without.

'_Maybe… maybe a quick peek at the town couldn't hurt?'_ Emerald thought hesitantly. _'Nothing too obvious, just a quick look around to see how everything is. I don't even have to be in my base pony form.'_

With a firm nod, Emerald got to her feet and walked back down into the cavern city. First chance she got, she informed a dog of her extended departure and went to her room to drop off her half-finished book. Once those two objectives were done, she teleported away to the fringes of Ponyville.

Emerald arrived in mid-air and upside down. After she spat out some dirt, she got up to her feet and examined Ponyville from afar. The disaster prone town was rather active for this time of night and it only took Emerald some examinations with her powerful eyesight to see why.

'_Costumes,' _Emerald thought. _'That means it's nightmare night. Well, things are certainly a bit busier than I'd thought they'd be. What to do? I could just go in as one of many different forms and be completely unnoticed… but it doesn't feel right. This place is… it's my home and I don't want to be hiding in my home… but I might be wanted now.'_

For the longest moment Emerald stayed in one spot, logically side warring with emotional. Eventually there was a winner.

'_Oh this is stupid as hell!' _Emerald thought as she began making her way towards the town as she was. _'This is probably going to end badly the moment I set foot in this place… Damn it, if I'm doing this I might as well go the whole nine yards.'_

With that, Emerald got in the holiday spirit and altered her form a bit and put on a costume that was sure to turn some heads. Then she continued on her way towards the town.

**ZETA**

Twilight Sparkle wasn't exactly feeling the spirit of the holiday. Putting on her Starswirl the Bearded costume she had picked up months ago felt more like a chore than anything, and it was terrible because she was actually looking forward to this for a while. But now after everything that had happened between her and Emerald, and what had happened with Discord… she just wasn't feeling up to being cheerful for the sake of the holiday.

So she really couldn't bring herself to be anything other than slightly annoyed when everyone couldn't tell who she had dressed up as, and rather than attempt to correct their error she had simply sighed and let them be on their way.

The night had gone on with her being a 'party pooper' as Spike had so eloquently put it, until she went with some children to go be told the story of Nightmare Moon by Zecora. That was when she saw a rider on a chariot pulled by bat winged armoured ponies fly out of the sky and towards town.

She and Spike had quickly ran back towards town and were treated with the sight of Luna making a dramatic show of her arrival, not realising she was scaring the ponies before her rather badly. Said ponies were all on the ground staring up fearfully at Princess Luna as the princess was about to speak. Suddenly, one of the ponies near the back heard a footstep near her and glanced back to look; she immediately regretting doing so.

Behind her was an armored monstrosity of a pony. It was wearing a helmet with an odd pointed visor that had two 'ears' that looked like bat wings poking up off the sides. It's chest was covered by thick armor that had an embossed eye across the front. Both its mane and tail were blood red and it's right foreleg had been mutated into a demonic claw with tiny bug like eyes dotted across it that glittered like gems. By far the most eye catching thing about the pony behind her however was the fleshy sword hovering in the air above her that had a large eye near the hilt.

After a moment of horrified staring at the sword, it blinked at her audibly.

"**YAAAAAAAH!**" the mare dressed as a doll screamed out and caught everyone's attention. Once they had caught sight of the pony behind them, they too also screamed and leapt off the ground in fright. To Luna's brief confusion, she found herself being used as an impromptu shield by a crowd of ponies.

"Help us Nightmare Moon!" shouted one pony.

"Save us Lady of the Night!" begged another.

Blinking her eyes at the ponies behind her for a moment, Luna wondered why they were calling her that before turning her attention to the armored pony. She narrowed her eyes as she took in the form of the pony. The alicorn began to think she and her sister had missed one of the more severely afflicted ponies when they were gathering them up when she noticed the pony's cutie mark, a bucket full of emeralds.

Then the armored pony lifted it's visor up.

"I suppose I went a little overboard with my costume?" Emerald said sheepishly.

"EMMY!" Pinkie Pie shouted happily as everyone released a relieved sigh.

"WHERE!?" came the distant voice of Rainbow Dash.

"OVER HERE DASHIE!" Pinkie shouted before dashing towards Emerald, closely followed by Applejack and Twilight, though Twilight slowed to a walk about halfway to her.

"Oof," Emerald grunted as Pinkie threw herself at her, wrapping her in a hug. "I guess you missed me, huh Pinkie Pie?"

"Jus' where in the world have you been?!" Applejack shouted, trying really hard to sound angry, but she was just too happy to see her friend again. "We missed ya, sugarcube!"

"YEAH!" Rainbow Dash shouted her agreement as she dive bombed Emerald and gave her a hug of her own.

"I had… gone on a journey of self-discovery," Emerald said after a moment, making Twilight twitch as she recognised the point when the virus started lying without actually lying. "And, well… honestly, I am stronger for it."

"Stronger…" Twilight repeated with a raised brow as she came to a stop just before the group. "Yeah… I can certainly agree with that."

"U-umm… h-hello Twilight…" Emerald stuttered, causing everyone to look at her in shock and nearly look around to see if Celestia was nearby and unintentionally terrifying the mare. "I hope you are doing well."

"Well you know, doing fine," Twilight stated with obviously forced civility. "Except for the fact my house blew up. Kind of homeless now and forced to freeload off Rarity."

"Y-yeah I… I saw that," Emerald said, recoiling like she had been struck.

Rainbow Dash and the others watched the exchange between Emerald and Twilight with appalled fascination; this was a far cry from the friendship the two shared. Dash then decided she wasn't going to tolerate any more of this. Twilight sounded like she was blaming _Emerald_ of all ponies for destroying her home for some unfathomable reason, when it was perfectly clear she wasn't to blame.

"Now hold on one minute!" Rainbow shouted and imposed herself between the two unicorns. "I have no idea why you're blaming Emerald for your house going up in smoke, but its **wrong** Twilight! Emerald, you don't have to worry about a darn thing, okay? Miss _rude egghead_ over here is having another home built for her, which I might add is being paid for by Princess Celestia herself!" Dash shouted that pointedly towards Twilight, who didn't get any angrier or even show shame for her actions, merely turning her head away from Dash's glare.

"Don't be mad at her, Dash," Emerald said firmly to Rainbow's obvious surprise, making the unicorn sigh. "I appreciate you defending me, but Twilight has all the right in the world to act that way towards me."

With that, the others could only look between Emerald and Twilight with confusion and concern.

"Jus' what in the world happened between the two of ya?" Applejack asked.

"It's complicated," Twilight sighed.

A long awkward moment ensured in the following silence, one that was thankfully broken by Princess Luna who had been silently watching on at the sidelines.

"I'm terribly sorry to interrupt," Luna began. "I wish to talk with young Emerald about a matter of great import to the two of us. Would anypony mind terribly if I borrow her presence for a few moments?"

"None at all Princess," Twilight said calmly and began walking away. "In fact, I am done talking with her today."

Luna stared after Twilight's retreating form, eyes glittering with inquisitive intent before turning her attention to Emerald.

"Let us have some privacy shall we?" Luna stated, and extended a wing towards an empty section of street.

"Lead the way, Princess," Emerald sighed, tearing her gaze away from Twilight.

The two left three deeply concerned ponies behind and came to a stop a fair distance away from everyone else.

"Have you given thought to my offer?" Luna asked with interest. This unicorn was to be her first student in over a thousand years, and she was rather hoping she'd accept.

"Yes I have Princess…" Emerald said. She had a lot of misgivings about the offer before; the risks involved with being so close to one so powerful for long periods of times, plus the expected difficulty of keeping certain actions and plots hidden from someone so old and obviously intelligent. But a lot of the risk was now null and void with her magical upgrade from Discord. Plus she was already risking everything being exposed with Twilight knowing everything at any given time of any day. Frankly, Emerald didn't see how being around Luna for long periods of time could increase the risks any further than they already were. Suffice to say, she was already half off the cliff ledge; might as well dive off the rest of the way. Hopefully the potential benefits would outweigh everything.

"… And I've decided accept your offer," Emerald stated.

"Honest and truly?" Luna asked excitedly, and when Emerald nodded she _cheered_. "Huzzah! The night has a student at last! OH… um I mean… ahem, thank you for accepting my offer of tutelage. I'm sure we'll both come to enjoy this relationship greatly."

"No problem, Princess!" Emerald said with a large grin, much to Luna's embarrassment.

"Well, I'll just let you go with your friends… _I'll just slither into this corner to die now_." Luna said a bit loudly before walking away and whispering to herself.

Emerald smiled brightly after the alicorn before turning back to three of her friends, then her smile turned a bit more forced, but stayed mostly genuine.

"So… I guess I'm going to need a place to crash at, seeing how the library is gone now," Emerald said.

"Well… you could always stay with Rarity?" Dash offered. "She likes you. A _lot_. She'll never say no to you, but…"

"Twilight's staying with her," Emerald said with a sigh. "So that's out. Do you think Fluttershy will mind if I stay with her a while?"

"Can' hardly imagine the filly saying no to ya sugarcube." Applejack stated. "Though… she does still have that big- WHOA!"

There was a sudden flash of purple light amongst the four ponies, startling three of them and putting the last on guard. After the light faded, Navi was revealed floating in the air in confusion, wearing a tiny pair of Groucho glasses for a costume. She looked around for a second before she caught sight of Emerald.

"Hey there Navi, you miss me?" Emerald asked as her pet shot against her cheek and released trills of intense happiness and relief. "Aww, don't cry Navi… Mama's here."

"Awwwwww, Navi missed you so much," Pinkie gushed happily at the two. "Why did you ever leave her behind for?"

"… It seemed like the best thing to do for her at the time," Emerald said honestly as her pet reclaimed her favorite spot atop one of her ears, happy tears in the corner of her eyes.

"One of these days ya gotta tells us what in the world happened the day you left," Applejack said seriously, looking like she'd never take no as an answer.

"Someday…" Emerald agreed and turned around to head for Fluttershy's. "But not today… see you girls later.

"Later Emerald," Dash said with a wave.

"See ya soon sugarcube."

"Bye Emmy! Happy to see you back!"

With that, Emerald and her returned pet walked through Ponyville, greeted by honestly happy ponies who had missed her presence, though they needed a moment to get over her costume. Eventually, she walked out of the Ponyville's town limits and reached the Everfree border where Fluttershy's cottage was.

The cottage appeared to be no different than she had last seen it, though it appeared Fluttershy would soon be finally getting around to improving _her_ home rather than the animal homes surrounding it, judging by the look of the supplies of wood and various construction materials at the ready next to it.

Another thing that immediately caught Emerald's attention was the sleeping green dragon off to the side. A large pile of gems served as his bed and a large sign was placed before him saying "NO CANDY HERE! **GO AWAY! :C**" Emerald wondered if the dragon had actually made the little face on the sign himself or if someone added it as a joke.

Judging by the lack of bandages on his body, Emerald figured the dragon was well enough to fend for himself now but had settled in and decided to freeload.

'_Typical,'_ Emerald thought with a sigh and walked towards Flutter's cottage. _'Useless massive lump, just like I thought.'_

Emerald knocked on the door of Fluttershy's home and after a moment the door slowly opened a tiny crack, the house's occupant wary of nightmare night's _scary_ costumes. When Fluttershy herself finally got up the courage to look through the crack in her door, she almost fainted in fright until she actually recognised who was smiling sheepishly out of the open helmet.

"Emerald!" Fluttershy said happily, her fright gone in a flash. "I'm so happy to see you back from your road trip. I hope you saw many interesting and wonderful things."

"I did see some _interesting_ stuff." Emerald nodded. "Listen Fluttershy, I just got back and Twilight's house is kind of a mess… would it be too much to ask if I and Navi stay here a while?"

"Of course not Emerald!" Fluttershy said, opening her door wider and stepping to the side to let her friend in. "My home is your home for as long as you need it. By the way, are you still a model?"

"Yes I am," Emerald answered as she stepped inside. "Why?"

"Well it's been a long time since you've done any photo shoots," Fluttershy said as she closed the door behind Emerald. "Or at least Photo Finish said it's been a long time. Practically forever in fashion industry time as she says."

"Yeah, it was kind of a bad idea to drop off the face of the planet like that," Emerald admitted. "I'll get in contact with her tomorrow. Right now I just want to settle in now that I am back."

"Of course. Would you like some tea?" Fluttershy asked. "We can catch up over a few relaxing cups if you want."

"That sounds nice." Emerald smiled. "I'll get… undressed while you prepare it."

"It will only take a few minutes," Fluttershy said before walking off to the kitchen.

With a surge of black tendrils, Emerald was back to her normal pony form and walked over to one of Fluttershy's couches to settle in. She was back. She hadn't expected to be back, and when she did she had expected ponies to run in fear of her after being told the terrible truth about her by Twilight. But no one had, and actually were glad she was finally back. Twilight hadn't told anyone… unexpected.

With a return like this, the Evolved could only wonder what the future held for her.

**-TBC-**

AN: All done! A nice cool down chapter after all the action in the last one don't you agree? Emerald making friends of all sorts here and setting the foundations of many future plots! Where will it all end? Hehe…


	4. Chapter 4: The Mystery Revealed

It had been a hectic three days since Emerald had returned to Ponyville. The very day after Emerald had gotten back in contact with Photo Finish, the mare had been utterly determined to get Emerald back in the public eye before she was forgotten. Honestly, Emerald didn't think she was in danger of that happening, but she wasn't a fashion industry expect like Photo was. The next few days were filled with one photo shoot after another with the occasional fashion show thrown in. The only reason why Photo Finish didn't take advantage of the fact Emerald supposedly only needed two hours of sleep was the fact that she herself needed her beauty sleep.

And even when Emerald had finally made it through the gauntlet Photo Finish had set up for her, she still wasn't done working. She may have finished what Photo had planned for her, but she still had an obligation to New Paradigm that she was a few weeks behind; Over Look didn't seem to be annoyed in the least, however. The CEO was rather amiable to Emerald being gone for a while and just started a new photo shoot when she got back in contact with them.

So here she was now, wearing a pair of blue overalls, a white hardhat and safety glasses while holding a wrench in one hoof. She was standing before a plain white background with the company's name and logo on it, a triangle within a circle.

"Fantastic, wonderful form as always Emerald!" called out the stallion photographer as he snapped shots of Emerald. "Now on the next one, I want a bit more _oomph_."

Emerald didn't sigh outwardly; she just moved to a new pose and considered it a job well down. She never knew what the photographer, Snaps Deluxe, meant when he said stuff like that. It had confused her rather terribly when she started out with him, being used to Photo Finish's style of simply shouting what she wanted from Emerald or even moving her into a pose herself when she wasn't feeling very patient that day. But it didn't take long for the Evolved to just settle for switching to a new pose and hoping for the best; it hadn't failed so far.

"PERFECT!" Snaps shouted happily and started maneuvering himself rapidly around her to take shots from different angles.

Honestly, Emerald was getting rather bored of modeling, but knew that was because she was spending the past few days doing nothing but modeling. What she needed was something to liven things up a bit, make things more bearable and fun even. But the viral unicorn hadn't an idea for just how to go about doing that just yet.

"Now, on to another position!" Snaps shouted, still moving so fast from new angles he might as well have been a unicorn using teleport, despite being an earth pony.

At hearing Snap's command, Emerald suddenly had an idea for how to liven things up for her. It was such an amusing and fun sounding idea to her that she just couldn't help the sly smile that appeared on visage.

"Oh, got an idea for something new?" Snaps asked at seeing Emerald's smile. "Let's have a look. It has to be good, coming from you!"

Emerald just gave a smile that was maybe a bit too cheerful, and quickly moved into a pose that was very obviously different from all the others she had taken in photo shoots. Snaps Deluxe, as well as the other ponies in the room, couldn't help but pause in what they were doing and examine Emerald's pose.

The fake unicorn was lying on her side. She was leaning on one foreleg but her eyes were hooded, practically smouldering with an emotion the ponies in the room had a really hard time trying to identify. Her mouth was open slightly, pearly white teeth barely visible between her parted lips, the hint of a tongue just peeking out. She held the prop, the wrench, towards her mouth.

"… That's kind of a weird pose, don't cha know?" the mare in charge of costumes commented.

"I agree." Nodded another mare that was the lighting specialist.

"I think… IT'S FANTASTIC!" Snaps shouted and seemed to pick up speed as he moved from position to position. "It's new, it's unique, and I've never seen anything like it before! It gets me pumping and my blood flowing! Do you have any more idea for poses like this, Emerald?"

"Y-yep!" Emerald replied with a large smile, just barely able to keep herself from bursting into a fit of laughter at the innuendoes Snaps unknowingly made.

"Wonderful!" Snaps said and made a 'go on' motion with his hoof as he paused his frantic movements. "If all of them are just as good as this, then I might as well scrap all the pictures I took and use the ones I'll be taking!"

Emerald felt her mood rise several notches more and quickly switched to a new pose that Snaps found just as good as the other one, if not better.

The photo shoot lasted for an hour more before Snaps Deluxe was finally done taking pictures. The suggestive and fairly erotic poses had done the trick for Emerald and made the work she had found to be incredibly dull, to be exciting and humorous. From what she experienced and had seen of pony society, the sorts of things like erotic posing had never been seen let alone done before, so she was free to pull a bit of a half prank, half inside joke on the whole of Equestria without anyone suspecting a thing. Although, the mares who had seen the poses had found them odd, but Snaps, who was a stallion, found them appealing. Emerald found that could have meant something, but at the same time it could have meant nothing. In the end, it was already done and the virus had important places to be.

The studio that had been used for the photo shoot had been located in Canterlot, which was done on Emerald's request as Luna intended to start the virus' lessons that very day.

As the viral unicorn existed out of the building the studio was housed in, she noticed a rather tense feeling in the air. Ponies were going about their daily lives, but there was guardedness to their actions and a visible unease. Emerald had teleported in, rather than arrive on foot, and had been all over Equestria for photo shoots and fashion shows, and thus hadn't noticed this until now.

Emerald began walking down the street, discreetly throwing wondering glances about her surroundings.

'_Why in the world is everyone acting this way?' _Emerald thought as she walked. _'The only thing I can think of for the reason to this is those "Afflicted Ponies" I've been hearing so much about… would they react that way to their own people though? Actually, it's more than likely they would, considering what Zecora had to go through before she got to move into town. Heh, that reminds me of when she built her house and how it just utterly stood out in comparison to the local architecture. __**That**__ certainly got people talking for a while.'_

As Emerald lost herself in memory, two ponies appeared from around the corner, a mare and her daughter. The sight of the mother made ponies stare, obviously ignore her or whisper to each other quietly.

It wasn't long before Emerald noticed the change in the crowd and looked up to see the mare for herself. For the most part she looked normal, however that ended when one looked at her head and wings. The mare had a near wild mane of hair that was somewhat tamed, and her eyes were slitted. Her wings could be mistaken for the normal feathery ones of a pegasus at a distance, but one glance at a modest range could spot them for what they were; wings made up of long scales instead of soft feathers.

The mare looked to be indifferent to the reactions she was getting as she led her nervous looking filly along. However, if one bothered to look, they could clearly see the mare was grinding her teeth, though Emerald's powerful ears could pick up the sounds of blades scraping against each other instead of grinding teeth.

Glad she kept her studying of the mare discreet, Emerald continued on her way down the street which happened to be down the same one the mare was walking up. Instead of giving her a wide berth like the other ponies were doing, Emerald just walked up to and past the mare, giving her a polite nod in greeting as she did so. This action caused the mare to blink and smile a bit at Emerald, a smile that obviously would have shown off her teeth had the mare not suddenly pursed her lips together into a thin line to avoid exactly that.

Feeling pleased that she silently showed the mare not everyone was going to judge her on her appearance, Emerald continued on her way. Not noticing how the mare stopped in the middle of the street and stared after her, ears perking up and the pupils of her slitted eyes narrowing to thin lines as she couldn't help her lips parting into a sharp toothed smile.

'_Hmm… nope, no sign of the virus at all,' _Emerald thought as she walked towards the palace, absently deciding to take a shortcut through a park as she did so. _'Not that it was even possible for them to still have it when I specifically called for all active strains of Blacklight to stop. It looks like the changes the brief infection started stayed. I could reverse it with some care, but… it would take a lot of time and effort… they aren't really suffering, are they? They have enhancements, and their increased aggression would mean they wouldn't tolerate mistreatment for long, if at all. So really, I have plenty of time to work on reversing this, although I better keep an eye out for any of them that decide to give a life of crime a try with their newfound power.'_

"Hey four eyes!" a mocking voice shouted.

'_Hmm, what's this?'_ Attention gained, Emerald wandered over to where she heard the voice coming from.

Slightly leaning out from behind a boulder that was cracked in half, the Evolved spied a scene between one lone filly and three other ones. It seemed like the typical case of one child being tormented by peers for some petty reason. However, the difference here was the fact the child being picked on was _Afflicted_. She was a young unicorn, with a white coat, dark red hair and blue eyes. She didn't seem to have her cutie mark yet, and had the basic features of the other Afflicted, namely slitted eyes, a wild mane and no doubt her teeth were all very sharp. Her horn, however, was much like a dagger and Emerald had no doubt that the filly would face very little problems in trying to gore someone with it.

"Y-yes Picture Perfect?" the Afflicted filly asked nervously. "I-is there something you want?"

"Oh, nothing~" Picture replied with faux friendly grin. The two other fillies with her giggled viciously. "Just wondering what happened to your big soda bottle glasses, four eyes."

"I… I don't need them anymore," 'Four eyes' answered with a frown, her timid demeanor rapidly fading away. "Would you please not call me tha-"

"Four eyes probably just lost them during the day of the red sky!" one of Picture's cronies suggested. "Probably when she was running around like a frenzied chicken!"

Considering the fact that the young unicorn was Afflicted, Emerald doubted she had been running around in a panic, and had been on the ground crippled by pain. Really, the Evolved could see where this was going and was tempted to just walk out and break this up. However, the more Emerald looked at the young unicorn, the more obvious her changing mood became. Instead of nervous and looking like she'd rather find a rock to crawl under, the filly was looking more and more angry, her sad broken stature being replaced by one very much like an increasingly agitated predator. The virus decided to sit back and 'watch the fireworks' as it were, because it was becoming increasingly clear what was going to happen and she didn't want to miss it.

"And what's up with this mane!" Picture Perfect exclaimed, stepping in close and touching a lock of the unicorn's mane. "And those weird eyes of yours! You really should get contacts, you know? Because really, you just stick out even worse than before now, and I bet you even have those horrible teeth too. Who'd want to become your friend now? Good thing you have me here to point out your flaws, right?"

"… They aren't flaws," Emerald heard the unicorn say very softly.

"What was that? They aren't flaws?" Picture said. "Well of course they're flaws! They look nothing like-"

"I SAID THEY AREN'T FLAWS!" the unicorn roared into Picture's face and caused the other filly to recoil back to her cronies who were also flinching away.

"I-Ink Well?" Picture said with shock.

A snake like hiss came from Ink Well as she crouched down slightly, looking at her tormentors with her wide open slitted eyes, the pupils narrowed down to thin, dangerous lines. Then she released a small, dragon-like roar before lunging at the other fillies.

"AHHHHHHHH!" the three bullies screamed at they turned tail and ran.

Ink hadn't leaped very far; she had only moved a foot forward. She was staring after the retreating forms of her tormentors and panting in exhilaration. She looked down at her hooves in wonderment and awe before giving a small squee of delight.

Emerald took this moment to step out into the open from behind the broken boulder and loudly clear her throat. The Afflicted filly looked at her with wide eyes before glancing back at the direction the other fillies ran in. Ink then got a sad, resigned look on her face and seemed to steel herself to be scolded.

"That must have been fun," Emerald stated with a smile as she took a seat on the ground just before Ink, the young unicorn throwing her a look of utter surprise at what she heard.

"…Ye-yes it was," Ink Well said a bit sheepishly before her confidence rose as no disapproval came from Emerald. "It felt so good to finally get back at those three after so long."

"It's always nice when karma pays back what it owes." Emerald nodded. "I'm guessing you have a really good memory, right?"

"Well, yeah," Ink Well answered. "Even before I… changed, I was always good at remembering things."

"Then you remember what it was like to not be powerful like you are now, right?" Emerald asked solemnly and got a nod from Ink. "Never forget that. Always remember what it was like to be picked on and be powerless to stop it. Too many reach for positions of power to do good, only to lose sight of their goal once they are there."

"Oh… what do you want me to do?" the young unicorn asked, looking at her like only she could answer her questions… which was rather odd.

'_Okay, I admit these changed ponies are a bit shocking to look at, but seriously,' _Emerald began. _'She should have someone to talk to, like her parents or one good friend. Why am I, a perfect stranger, being looked at like that?'_

"Be as you are," Emerald stated simply. "Your body may be different, but you are still you when it comes down to it. Remember, never forget what it's like to be powerless despite being strong now, and you'll be fine."

"Of course! Thank you!" Ink Well shouted with adoration in her voice that made Emerald feel something was definitely off. Suddenly, the little filly looked uncertain of herself. "But… why are you so okay with me? I mean… I look like a monster."

"You are not a monster," Emerald said firmly. "Trust me when I say this. Mere appearance is not enough to make one a monster. You could look as beautiful as one of the princesses, and still have a rotten core and not care for the rights of others."

"You've met somepony like that?" Ink Well asked with wide eyes.

"Yes," Emerald answered simply, images of herself and those of Alex Mercer's Cadre elites flashing through her head. "No matter what happens, always remember, you are what you choose to be."

"I will…" Ink well said, looking down at her hooves shyly. "I won't use my power to bully others, and I won't let Picture and her toadies get away with bullying others too."

"Going to be a little hero, huh?" Emerald asked with a sly smile at Ink's blush. "A hero. I wish I had… never mind, I've got someplace to be and I'm sure the same can be said of you."

"Oh my gosh, my parents wanted me home right away!" Ink Well shouted with alarm, and was gone in a near instant as she galloped away.

Emerald smiled after the little filly before frowning and continuing on her way to the palace. She felt something was off about meeting the little filly, but didn't know what exactly. Perhaps it was the way she just immediately trusted her? Or maybe the way she hung on every word she said? Of course that could have been just the filly being too trusting of strangers; Equestria just didn't have dangers like that. Being bullied, scammed or just meeting a rude pony was the most danger the little filly could have faced out on her own in a city.

Finding herself before the gates of the Royal Palace, Emerald put the issue of the little filly out of her mind and focused on her first day as Luna's student. She entered the gates and found herself in the large lobby. It was fairly untouched since the last she saw it during the gala, so the fight with Discord hadn't damaged it, though a few windows were boarded up. Off to the side was a Royal Guard wearing dark purple armour and had a dark coat, yellow eyes and bat wings; Luna's Night Guard.

"Greetings, Emerald Gleaner," the guard said with a respectful nod. "Her highness requested that I await you and direct you to her the moment you arrived."

"Lead the way. I'll be right behind you," Emerald stated.

"Right this way."

As Emerald followed the guard, she studied his form. When she first glimpsed Luna's guard, she had wondered about them for a time, pondering if Luna had truly altered her guard to fit her night motif or if it was an illusion of some kind. Honestly, being even this close, Emerald couldn't tell if it was one or the other.

"Curious?" the guard asked suddenly, looking at her out of the corner of his eye with a smirk.

"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to stare," Emerald apologized. "I was just wondering how you look like that."

"I don't mind." The guard smiled at her. "It's better than the reactions we usually get, but that's to be expected when we only come out at night."

"So how do you look like that?" Emerald asked as they continued on their way to Luna. "Is it a physical change, or some sort of illusion?"

"It's an illusion," the guard replied and reached towards the gem embedded in his chestplate, pressing it. The change was instant. One moment he stood before Emerald, the next there was a flash and he changed into a sky blue pegasus with normal, feathery wings, a white mane and blue eyes.

"Huh, so the armor does it?" Emerald said as she looked down at his armor, namely the eye like gem on it.

"Yep, enchanted by Equestria's finest!" The guard smiled before tapping the gem again and returning to his Night Guard look. "I don't know the specifics, but you'll likely learn about stuff like this and more under Princess Luna."

"I don't doubt it," Emerald replied. "So what exactly does Princess Luna have all of you do during the night?"

"Well… truth be told, most ponies are asleep at night, so the princess has free reign to do as she pleases most of the time," the guard said a little sheepishly. "She tends to take us along whenever she decides to go to the Everfree Forest and fight a few of the creatures there."

"She goes to the Everfree?" Emerald asked, inwardly a little worried about this revelation.

"Yeah, and let me tell you we all get our fair share of bruises from those little adventures," the guard said while laughing. His laughter turned a little nervous as he added, "You aren't going to tell her about that, right? She finds them so much fun, and it would ruin it for her if we don't find it just as "invigorating" as she does."

"My lips are sealed," Emerald replied with a smile, miming a zipping motion across her mouth.

"Thanks. Well, here we are," the guard said as he stopped before a large pair of doors. "The princess is waiting in the study past these doors. Congratulations on becoming the princess' student by the way; it's a massive honor."

"Thank you," Emerald said before opening the doors and walking in.

The study looked fairly homey. One wall was almost completely made up of windows that let sunlight stream in, another wall was covered in bookcases and the middle of the room was occupied by several comfy looking couches and armchairs surrounding various tables. Luna sat in one couch, drinking from a cup of tea she was levitating. Off to the side, dusting the bookcases, was a maid.

"Emerald Gleaner, welcome to the Royal Palace," Luna greeted with a happy smile. "I apologise for the state of it. It's normally much more pleasant to look at."

"It's of no concern, your highness," Emerald said as she approached the princess. She came to a stop before the alicorn to bow briefly before taking her seat on the chair opposite the godly ruler.

"Tea?" Luna offered a floating cup, which Emerald accepted. "I must say I've been anticipating this day for some time. The day I find a worthy pony of my own to teach and mold like my sister has done over the years."

"Thank you for considering me as such a pony, your highness," Emerald said in a respectful tone. "From what I've heard, it must have been a bit of a negative for me to be as old as I am. All of Princess Celestia's previous students started out at a young age."

"Nonsense, Emerald." Luna waved dismissively. "One is never too old to learn. My sister and I know that lesson all too well, and… Umm, yes? Do you require something, servant?"

Emerald blinked when she felt someone close in on her and heard a drawn out sniff. She turned around to see the earth pony maid sigh as she took in the fake unicorn's scent. She stared at Emerald for a moment, her ears perked up and the pupils of her slitted eyes narrowed down to thin lines.

"You smell wonderful~" The maid said with affection, smiling softly at Emerald.

"Uhh…" Emerald said, unable to think of a reply, and Luna appeared to be in the same boat as she just sat there and blinked at the scene before her.

"Oh… oh my!" the maid shouted in mortification as she suddenly realised what she just did. "I didn't mean to do that! I'm sorry! I just… I… Ohhhhhh, please don't fire me!"

"Calm yourself my dear," Luna said gently. "Gather your thoughts and tell us what happened. I have a suspicion you are not at fault here."

"Thank you so much your majesty!" the maid said gratefully before taking some deep breaths. "I honestly don't know what happened. I was dusting the bookcases, and next I find myself drawn to this _wonderful_ smell… the next thing I know, I find myself sniffing her… might I know your name please? I really didn't mean to do that, honest!"

"I agree with the princess. I don't think you at fault either," Emerald said as she began to have suspicions as to what else had been altered in the Afflicted ponies. "Honestly, it sounds like you have some new instincts you don't have much control over just yet."

"Young Emerald's words seem to 'hit the nail on the head' as it were," Luna stated. "In all likelihood, this behavior was the result of some instinct instilled in you from your new body."

"Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?" the maid asked, her expression quickly turning from morose to eager. "Something from the kitchens, perhaps? Maybe you'd like a fresh batch of tea brewed a certain way? Since you are the princess' student, you'll have a room here. Would you like me to set it up a certain way?"

"There is really no need to do anything for me," Emerald replied. She was absolutely certain all of the Afflicted ponies knew, on an instinctive level, that she was the one who made them the way they were, and reacted accordingly. It was obvious that the brief viral infection made the ponies much more open to her and very receptive to her attention; it made the Evolved a bit uneasy at how she accidently modified the minds of who knows how many ponies.

"Really?" the maid said with a disappointed expression. "Isn't there anything I can do for you?"

"Well… how about a sandwich?" Emerald asked, and the maid nodded eagerly. "You can put anything on it and I'll like it."

"Be right back!" the maid shouted before galloping off in a blur.

"Well you certainly have a way with the serving staff, Emerald," Luna said with a smile. "She was supposed to be waiting on _me_."

"It seems odd, doesn't it?" Emerald stated. "Have the other changed servants acted like that?"

"Other than exploring what they can do now and having something of a temper, none of them have demonstrated such behavior before." Luna hummed in thought. "This brings up an issue I need to solve, now that you are here."

"What issue is that?"

"You have seen how each pony of each tribe has been changed, yes?" Luna asked, and Emerald nodded. "Well, there is one more group of Afflicted ponies. Their changes are more… severe. They are quite alarming to look at, and can't be mistaken for a normal pony at a distance unlike the others. The reason I mention them is because they are all housed here in the palace. Since you are going to be living here for the next week, I wish to introduce you to them so you won't be too alarmed in the future."

"I'm fairly certain I've seen worse, your highness," Emerald replied. "I'd rather think I can keep myself from making them feel bad by reacting in any way to their appearance."

"I find myself believing that unlikely, young Emerald," Luna stated and got up from her coach. "They are all strong ponies in spirit, and they wouldn't blame you for reacting, I'm sure. Shall we be off then? I believe the unofficial leader of the group is still in a nearby living room."

"Right behind you, your highness," Emerald stated.

The two ponies went on their way. As they travelled, Emerald wondered just what the more affected of the ponies would look like. From what Luna said, it sounded like they could be barely recognised as vaguely looking like ponies. That brought up all sorts of disturbing pictures of her time in the NYZ and all the viral abominations that roamed the streets. Just how bad were these ponies going to look? If it was too horrible, Emerald was definitely going to kick up the task of reversing their conditions up a few notches on the to-do list.

"Prepare yourself, young Emerald," Luna stated as she came to a stop before a door. "I did not exaggerate when I said those more severely changed were an alarming sight to behold."

"I'm ready, your highness," Emerald stated.

Luna nodded and knocked on the door.

"Razor Wing?" Luna called out, making Emerald go wide eyed and stare at her. "Are you in there?"

"I am present, your highness." Emerald heard a voice she knew, with certainty, belonged to Razor Wing, a pegasus Royal Guard she accidently dated for a time.

"I am here with my student," Luna stated, "and wish to expose her to how you and your fellows look in a controlled environment."

'_Well this is certainly going to be awkward in the extreme,' _Emerald thought with a wince as Luna opened the door to Razor's room and lead them inside.

Emerald saw Razor Wing standing before the foot of his bed. He had changed massively, to say the least. His white coat wasn't white anymore, and was more of a dirty gray. Unnatural cracks in his coat revealed softly glowing orange bioluminescence, and while his eyes were slitted like the others, they also were orange and glowing. Instead of the long scales that replaced the feathers on the other changed pegasi, Razor's wings were blade wings that were very much like Emerald's own blade wings. His mane was wild and still the color blue, but a much darker shade. He also had a dagger like horn coming out of his forehead.

"Emerald…" Razor breathed, a smile of adoration quickly making its way onto his features as he approached Emerald.

"Razor Wing," Emerald stated, not needing to fake her shock at his appearance, but had to hide her wince at the obvious happiness he felt at her remembering him.

'_Wow, this is…' _Emerald thought as she studied Razor's form. _'I've seen one of each of these infected ponies and each of them has been changed greatly by what happened. It… it kind of reminds me of that myth about the man eating horses. What were they called again?'_

"Diomedes," Emerald muttered.

"What was that?" Luna said.

"Oh…" Emerald shook herself out of her musing and faced the Princess. "I was just thinking about a legend all of these changed ponies reminded me of."

"A legend?" Luna said. "Hmm… perhaps you could share it?"

"Oh," Emerald said, looking at a loss briefly before glancing at Razor Wing, who also seemed to be curious. "Well okay, but… it may not be retold as it originally was though, just so you know."

"Just do as best as you can young Emerald. I'll hardly be irritated by a poor telling," Luna reassured with a smile.

"This is the Legend of the Mares of Diomedes, or the Mares of Thrace," Emerald began, rapidly thinking up of new content and altering the original tale about Hercules taming the man eating horses. "Diomedes was an extremely skilled trainer; people and ponies of all kinds sought him out. Among all those were four mares that would one day become his most famous trainees."

"A question." Luna interrupted. "Apologies but what is Thrace? Is it their country of origin?"

"I… it could have been, it may have just been the name of the village they came from." Emerald answered with shrug before continuing. "There was Xanthos the ye-… the Strong, an earth pony, Podargos the Swift, a pegasus, Lampon the Shining, a unicorn and finally Deinos… whose title was originally 'the Skilled."

"I feel there is a story there," Luna stated.

"Yes… Deinos was an earth pony, and at first was content with being what she was," Emerald explained. "But as time went on, Deinos grew increasingly frustrated with how Podargos and Lampon could outdo her. Whether it was either out pacing her from the skies or simply replicating her feats with a simple spell, Deinos grew increasingly disquiet about being _just_ an earth pony. Eventually, she left and sought a means to retain her supremacy amongst the four. Eventually she found it. A source of dark magic granted Deino's wish for a way to overcome Lampon and Podargos by infusing itself with her."

"I-infusing you say?" Luna frowned.

"Yes. With dark magic enhancing her, Deinos was capable of flight and magic, and was better at both than Lampon and Podargos were," Emerald said, now reaching her stride in storytelling. "Deinos began terrorising the countryside in blind joy of her new abilities, an act that assured she would always be known as 'Deinos the Terrible'. The other Mares of Diomedes had stayed and continued their training in Deinos' absence, particularly Xanthos who was determined to prove to her fellow earth pony that their race was just as capable as the others. When they heard about Deinos' rampage, they were the first to go out to face her."

"When the three stood before the corrupted mare, Xanthos suddenly seemed to have second thoughts about deciding to face her," Emerald continued. "She fled in fear of the mare that was once her sister in all but blood, and Deinos declared her to be "Xanthos the Yellow!" at the top of her lungs. Despite being abandoned by Xanthos, the other two stayed and fought Deinos; all their attempts would be futile. Whatever had fused itself with Deinos had truly granted the pony her wish and made her greater at flying and magic then Podargos and Lampon."

"It sounds to be a rather bleak legend," Luna commented.

"It's not over yet. When all hope seemed to be lost, Xanthos returned," Emerald said. "She was known far and wide for being strong, but she was smart as well. Having earlier feigned being afraid, Xanthos ran around and waited for the perfect moment to strike at Deinos, and she got in the form of Deinos gloating before the other mares, rendered helpless before her unnatural skills."

"Xanthos leapt at Deinos and grappled with her until she dropped out of the sky," Emerald continued. "While Deinos was at one time stronger and better than Xanthos, she had let her training go in her search for something to surpass Podargos and Lampon, actually giving Xanthos the advantage at close range. With Xanthos grappling with Deinos, the other two mares were able to assault her with near impunity. Within a minute, Deinos lie beaten on the ground and the darkness that had fused with her fled when she needed it most. With that victory, the Mares of Diomedes won their place in the halls of myth and legend."

"What happened to Deinos?" Luna asked curiously.

"I… do not know that detail," Emerald said. "It's just as likely Deinos had been killed soon after the darkness left as it is that she lived and was punished for her crimes."

"Oh…" Luna said with a troubled look. "And what of their trainer, Diomedes?"

"He… took Deinos' fall as a failure on his part," Emerald answered. "He became a recluse and would train no one else; the four mares would be his last and most famous trainees."

"A most interesting legend, though truth be told I don't favour the ambiguity around Deinos' fate," Luna stated honestly. "What brought the legend to mind?"

"The way there are four different kinds of 'Afflicted' ponies made me think of it," Emerald stated. "Podaros for the pegasi, Xanthos for the earth ponies, Lampon for the unicorns and Deinos for the uh… for the others. Thracian ponies."

"Hmm… I do like the name, actually. Much better and kinder than calling them Afflicted," Luna stated before frowning. "Although the name of Deinos for ponies like Razor Wing…"

"I do not mind it your highness," Razor stated. "I doubt any of the others will mind being named after a pony called Deinos the Terrible either. After all, aren't we a terrible sight to behold?"

"Do you… feel angry about that? About what you were forcefully turned into?" Emerald asked.

"I was angry and I was also depressed," Razor answered honestly and flared out one of his blade wings. "The last thing I wanted was to be turned into a monster that sent ponies running at the mere sight of me. But… after a while, I couldn't help notice quite a few positives of what I became. I've only had to go to sleep once this week, for instance, and everything is just so… bright and vibrant. The smells, the sounds… it's all just so hard to convey to somepony that doesn't feel as we do. Being able to use magic like a unicorn was just the cherry on top."

Emerald could understand exactly how Razor Wing felt; very likely even more since her sense were far more powerful. The only reason she didn't marvel at how the world looked, sounded and felt with so many more senses was simply because she had grown used to them.

"We are still looking into reversing your conditions, Razor Wing," Luna frowned. "I would advise you and the rest of the 'Thrace' against getting too used to their current bodies. It may take us a while, but my sister and I are determined to return you all to normal and have you reintegrated into society."

"Of course, your highness," Razor Wing said solemnly, but Emerald was fairly certain she briefly saw a look of agitation on the 'Deinos' before it was quashed.

"Not only have you proven yourself right, but you have even given them a better name." Luna smiled at her student. "Come, it's time we start our lessons. I hope you aren't too disappointed when I say we are going to be spending this first week doing a lot of book work."

"Of course not, your highness," Emerald said as she followed the alicorn out of the room. She happened to look behind her and caught sight of Razor Wing looking longingly after her before seeing she caught him looking, then he quickly shut the doors of his room.

"Good, because I learned that you have a photographic memory from my sister," Luna said as she walked forward. "I wish to take advantage of that to get as much of the text out of the way as possible before we spend your next week here going over the practicals."

'_There is a chance that the Thrace don't mind the fact they have been changed all that much anymore,' _Emerald thought, only half listening to Luna. _'Judging from what I've seen of and heard from Razor Wing, anyway. He could be a minority in his feelings, for all I know. But they could be growing to like their new forms… maybe. For now, I'll just sit back and observe the situation before doing anything. If it looks like the situation is going to degrade horribly, then I'll interfere, but until then I'll leave things be.'_

With that, Emerald followed Luna to her first lesson as her student.

**ALPHA**

Emerald walked off the train, Navi standing on the tip of her ear. It had been a week since she had started her lessons with Luna, and like the alicorn said, it was spent doing only book work. However, during her entire stay Emerald found herself being lavished upon by the Thrace staff. Whenever she needed even the smallest thing, Emerald always soon found herself being set upon by Thrace serving staff, ready and willing to do anything to please her. It had actually made things a little tense as Luna had been growing increasingly curious to the reason why they were acting like that and to no one else. At the very least, she hadn't seen Razor Wing other than the first day she arrived; come to think of it, Emerald hadn't seen any of the other Deinos either, only catching a few glimpses of them occasionally, but she hadn't exactly gone looking for them either.

"Happy to be home, Navi?" Emerald asked her pet and got an affirming trill in response. "Yeah, me too. Didn't expect I'd be leaving here so quickly for so long after talking to Photo Finish. Hopefully we can just enjoy a little break now that we are home again."

Emerald immediately left the station, reaching the streets of Ponyville. It was certainly a stark contrast in comparison to when she first arrived. When she first arrived, she got stares from all the stallions for her enhanced beauty. Now the very most she got was some friendly smiles and polite greetings. She was definitely fully integrated with the town now, and the people saw her as one of their own. It felt nice.

"Emerald!" The fake unicorn heard a shout and turned.

It was Bon Bon and Lyra trotting down the street at her.

Emerald gave a hopeful though strained smile as she recalled the situation between them a few months ago, the day she came back to Ponyville from the Gala. The two of them had had been pretty mad at her for breaking Time Turner's heart and the _discussion_ they had couldn't exactly be called quiet. After explaining how she felt about the whole thing, Bon Bon could understand her reasons for why she had lead Time Turner along. Lyra however was much more difficult and needed some time to accept what had happened. Emerald hoped Lyra had cooled down by now, since she had left Ponyville for several months soon after.

"Hello girls," Emerald greeted as the two closed in. "How is Time Turner? If I may ask…"

"He is doing fine, Emerald," Bon Bon replied and Lyra scowled a little at the question. "But he is still rather sad about what happened between the two of you, though Rose Locks has been a great help in cheering him up. He often wonders what he did to ruin things so badly."

"I really wish things hadn't happened the way they did," Emerald said honestly, averting her eyes from Bon Bon. "I wish I could have returned his feelings for me, but I couldn't. It was better that things ended then and there. It would have been so much harder on the both of us had I waited until much later."

"Just what about Time Turner made it so you couldn't grow to love him?" Bon Bon asked. "I know it sometimes just doesn't work, but he is a very kind stallion and soft hearted.

'_The fact he is a stallion for one,'_ Emerald thought and steadfastly ignored the fact that reason felt more of an excuse than an actual reason.

"There just wasn't a… spark between us," Emerald answered. "I didn't care for him beyond what a friend would care for another friend. I know it's horrible he had to be hurt this way when I know his feelings were honest and true, but I just couldn't return them. It would cheapen whatever we would have if he was the only one that had romantic feelings."

"Things like this don't develop instantly, Emerald," Bon Bon said gently. "Sometimes the only thing that can help is time, but I am not going to bother you about this anymore. You've said why things happened the way they did, and that is enough for me."

"…Do you think I'd be able to see Time Turner?" Emerald asked.

"I **really** don't think you should," Lyra said with a huff and mild glare. "He really isn't over you or what you did just yet. Just stay away from him for now."

"Oh… okay then," Emerald replied softly as Bon Bon threw a disapproving look at her friend. "I think I'll just be on my way now."

"Okay Emerald, don't be a stranger!" Bon Bon shouted after the virus.

Waving absently back at Bon Bon, Emerald went on her way. She walked down a random street and wondered about what to do. She could go back to Fluttershy's house… but now that she thought about it, she hadn't seen Rarity when she came back. Deciding that checking back with one of her best friends would be the thing to do, Emerald headed straight for Rarity's boutique.

The virus soon found herself before the building and was about to head in when she remembered one little issue; Twilight was staying here. Emerald frowned and sent out a viral pulse and smiled faintly when the pulse came back from a direction the boutique wasn't in. Seeing that Twilight wasn't in at the moment, she walked forward and entered through the front door.

"Rarity!" Emerald called out.

"Emerald!" The virus heard a joyful shout and suddenly Rarity came running out of one of the doors.

"Emerald dear!" Rarity said happily as she wrapped the fake unicorn in a hug. "It's been so long! How are you, darling?"

"I'm fine, Rarity," Emerald replied with a warm smile. "I've traveled about, seen some things, met new ponies, and learned a few things about myself in the process, too."

"Well I certainly hope it was worth worrying all of us," Rarity said.

"I didn't mean to… it just sort of happened," Emerald replied uneasily.

"What exactly happened to make you leave?" Rarity asked.

"I… so anything happen in the past week and a half while I was gone?" Emerald asked.

"I bonded with my sister," Rarity answered with a tilt of her head, knowing that Emerald was being evasive but at the same time not want to intrude. "And ended up getting myself quite dirty I must say! But it was more than worth a bit of- okay a _lot_ of mud to bond with Sweetie Belle."

"Sounds like an interesting story," Emerald stated. "Want to share stories over some tea?"

"Sounds delightful, Emerald!" Rarity said with a smile before it faded somewhat. "Oh… and you shouldn't have to worry about Twilight for a few hours."

"Sounds good…" Emerald replied as she moved towards the kitchen.

**BETA**

Celestia brought up a hoof to her temple as she read over some reports.

Things had only gotten worse since the events of Discord's escape from his sealing. Equestria was still recovering from a minor recession it was very much still in. The destruction the "Imp", as Luna called him, caused not only undid all they had done to reverse it, but had actually sent them deeper into recession. The already strained weather industry was stretched beyond capacity with Cloudsdale's destruction. It wasn't the only place that produced the weather, but it was the biggest and covered a large area. And if Luna was right, the Imp wasn't only just responsible for deepening the hole they were in.

"Have you managed to glean anything else of the dream you saw?" Celestia asked her sister as she worked.

"I've been working at it, sister," Luna replied. "I've studied my memory of the dream as best as I can and can't gleam much more than the Imp, Oskar, being a conflicted being and also the Gray Fox."

"A masterful thief and possessing incredible power," Celestia muttered. "The potential threat we face does not fill me with much confidence Luna. We needed the Elements to defeat Discord before, while he simply used brute force."

"His power is great, but surely the Elements would overcome him as they have done every time they have been used against a threat," Luna stated confidently. "We now have the Elements again after locating them in your student's home. We are prepared should he decide to assault us."

"Possibly…" Celestia said, looking unconvinced. From what she had seen of him, Oskar was a dangerously intelligent foe and didn't half do anything when it came to threats… That reminded the alicorn. For some strange reason Oskar, had used very little restraint for Twilight, which was very-

"Princesses!" shouted a royal guard as she came running into the throne room.

"What is it?" Luna asked with a frown. "Has some other catastrophe decided to _grace_ our kingdom?"

"No, princesses!" the guard said with a salute as she came to a stop before the throne. "Several stacks of books and weather machines had been arriving several minutes ago in the courtyard."

"Books and weather machines," Celestia repeated with surprise. "Show me."

"Follow me, your highnesses," the guard said dutifully and quickly lead the way.

Soon enough, the two alicorns found themselves standing before several stacks of books surrounded by weather machines. Royal Guard milled about as the Princesses closed in.

"We found this note atop one of the book stacks, your highness," a guard stated and held said note towards Princess Celestia.

Celestia magically took hold of the note and looked at the front; it was addressed to both her and her sister. Celestia ripped open the note and unfolded the message within, holding it up for her sister to see as well.

_Dear Princess Celestia and Princess Luna,_

_Guess who! It's me, good ole lucky Jack. It's been a while since we've had any contact between each other, ey? I guess that's because I only ever needed a few things from Equestria and after that… well, there just hasn't been much in the way of interest. Anyway, I always keep my word, so here are the books I promised to return after I had borrowed them. I even decided to return the weather machines I stole! I know, I know. "Jack! Why did you steal them in the first place if you were just going to return them?! Also, I, Princess Luna, want to elope with you~ 3!" Well I figured there would be all sorts of nice stuff to learn from the things, them making the weather and all. But as soon as some knowledge from a few artificers I know were applied… well it turned out they really were nothing more than big fog machines, and my interest kind of bled out after that. A real shame, ey? Anyway, this ought to teach you two that good ole Jack is an honest and trustworthy sort, savvy?_

_Lovingly Yours (I mean Luna by the way. No offense to you, Princess Celestia),_

_Jack McCloud_

"Well that was quite enlightening," Celestia commented and couldn't help the wide smile on her face when she saw her sister. Luna was red in the face and looked utterly furious. Her cheeks were puffed out as she glared down at the letter. "Now Luna, I really must advise you-"

"Dear sister, I swear on all that is good and decent if you are about to tease me…" Luna said dangerously.

"Now, now," Celestia chided gently. "I just wish to tell you I need you right now and that you shouldn't elope with your lover to distant lands for a while yet."

"ARRRRGGGGHH!"

"Hehe." Celestia giggled at her sister's expense before regaining her composure. "In all seriousness, this is quite the boon. With half of the original weather machines returned to us, the financial strain is lessened greatly."

"Hmm…" Luna hummed with a troubled look.

"Is something the matter, Luna?" Celestia asked.

"This letter… it clouds whether or not if Oskar was Jack," Luna stated.

"It does?" Celestia looked at the letter. "Well, I suppose it does. From what you've described of his behavior, it's rather hard to imagine Oskar acting this way."

"Yes, but at the same time, he was a shape shifter," Luna replied. "Acting as someone entirely different should be second nature to him. But still, it doesn't entirely mean that he simply hired the services of the Gray Fox instead of being him."

"Indeed," Celestia agreed. "But either way, we have the books and the weather machines from Cloudsdale back, and this makes things easier for us. Let's go get in contact with the pegasi from Cloudsdale and inform them of this."

"Right."

**GAMMA**

Emerald, in her human base form, was outside in the field above the cavern city which she had decided to dub the Hub, the reasoning being it was the center of their nation. She reached out towards a black shrub which had dragon scales in place of leaves.

Practice from making the meat trees had made the job of creating the dragon scale shrubs a relatively quick and painless process. It had taken a few days of work and testing, but in the end it was weeks faster than making the trees had been, and the results were plain to see. The scales of the shrub were razor sharp around the edge and were just as hard as Nidhogg's had been in life. Of course, them being so hard meant Emerald was going to have to provide the armor makers with tools to make working with them less of a pain.

"Well, I consider this a rousing success," Emerald said aloud as she took in the rows upon rows of dragon scale shrubs, many varying in size from small leaves to the size of ferns. Then she turned around and faced the group of dogs wearing chain mail sleeves and gloves. "You can get to work collecting the scales now, though remember to be extra careful around these plants despite the protection you are wearing."

"Right, boss!" one of the dogs shouted before the group surged forward to set to work.

"**A most interesting creation, virus,"** Emerald heard Sovereign say and turned towards the Timber Wolf sitting on the sidelines. **"It brings to mind ideas for more dangerous thorns to line the border of the forest with. Yes, bushes with sharp leaves that look no different from the other bushes… you have created something that is actually truly useful."**

"Well thanks for that. Always good to know I can actually succeed at something," Emerald replied sarcastically. Sovereign's idea for more dangerous plants were a bit off putting, but Emerald was just happy the spirit wasn't being actively violent like before, and considered any progress to be good progress.

"**You have your non-useless moments. I find myself being forced to admit that much,"** Sovereign commented before taking his leave.

'_Asshole,' _Emerald thought with a shake of her head before turning to face the dogs working with the plants she made. _'Well, making those wasn't so hard. Perhaps I should make something more complicated? Make an actual creature with an animal's intelligence… or should I go the extra mile and make something self-aware? In any case, this will tie into that big project I have planned out. The testing chambers have been carved out, though we still need to put steel plating on the walls, just in case and all that.'_

Emerald turned away and saw Whisper Wind talking to Bluno, the shape of her stone cottage behind them half constructed and still being furnished. Whisper and the Husky Alpha seemed to be getting along fairly well.

'_Right, we have a better and lighter replacement for the steel armour we have,' _Emerald thought as she walked back towards the entrance of the city. _'Now we just need a replacement for the underclothes and padding. Spider silk clothes sound like they can serve as a great replacement. Course I don't know how to weave the stuff, and neither do any of my dogs even though I could make it. So I'll have to get in contact with the Spider Families and set up a trade for their services. Hmm… maybe Tavish can help me with this? I'll send word out to him and see what his response is.'_

With that, Emerald descended down into the tunnels.

**DELTA**

Emerald sat off to the side and watched on as her friends let their pets play with each other.

Since she had a pet, she often took part in the weekly pet playdates everyone with a pet had. But things were a bit more strained with Twilight there, so Emerald decided to spend this playdate at a distance and just let Navi play with the others. Strangely, Fluttershy and Angel were late for some reason.

Emerald sent out a viral pulse out of idle curiosity to see where the two were, and was surprised when the pulse came back almost instantly. She turned in the direction of the pulse and saw Fluttershy with Angel on her head arriving and pushing along Discord who was in a wheelchair, some of his limbs in casts and covered in bandages.

The moment Discord came in view, everyone stopped what they were doing and glared at Discord silently, thought the pets continued to play with each other and enjoy themselves. Discord didn't play them any mind and stared at Emerald in surprise, warning the virus instantly that Discord could identify her.

Emerald shot Discord a warning glare, telling him silently in no unclear terms that if he talked, he was going to regret it. The chaotic draconequis seemed to get the message as he schooled his features and looked away from her.

"Er, Sugercube?" Applejack began as she eyed Discord warily. "Is there a reason ya have that fella with ya?"

"I've been going to Canterlot to take care of him every few days," Fluttershy answered as she began checking on Discord's bandages and casts.

"My dear ponies, your hateful looks _wound_ me!" Discord cried out dramatically. "Certainly you can see I am in no condition to cause a ruckus of any sort? And what is it that I have done to warrant such hate, hmm? Misplace a few baubles and taunt you, and nothing much else. Now, do I deserve such treatment? Hmm?"

"Well…" Applejack began, looking at her friends. Discord actually had a point. He hadn't done much of anything villainous. He had appeared, taken the Elements, taunted them as he said, then the creature Oskar arrived and beat him into the ground. The only thing they really had against him was his past, and that was hard to work up any sort of negative feeling over since it was so long ago.

"We're watching you, Discord!" Twilight shouted at him after a moment.

"Yeah! With both eyes!" Pinkie shouted as she suddenly darted in his face, pointing at her eyes with emphasis.

"Wonderful. Watch this," Discord said, and suddenly he was gone, causing Pinkie to fall onto her face. He reappeared an instant later beside a guarded Emerald.

"Are you going to be alright sitting out in the open like this?" Fluttershy asked as she trotted over. "And please don't take offense at their behavior. They are just protective is all."

"Oh I'll be fine, you darling little thing you!" Discord said as he waved her off. "I'll just sit back here and have a little chitchat with your other friend. You go play with your pets and friends."

"Okay… but I'll be back soon to check up on you," Fluttershy said before going to let Angel play.

"What do you want?" Emerald stated gruffly as she spotted Rainbow Dash arriving.

"Oh, what is the attitude for?" Discord said with an aghast look. "Surely you don't believe I am a threat right now?"

"I do believe in facts," Emerald answered as she spied Dash talking with the others and throwing Discord some looks. "And the fact is history recorded your deeds. It may be just words in a book to others, but I know better. You're dangerous to keep around."

"You wound me," the draconequis said melodramatically as he brought up one arm he had in a sling against his forehead.

"You're not actually hurt, aren't you?" Emerald said as she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Oh, while I may not have lasting physical injuries, my spirit is bruised and broken, sadly," Discord said with a shrug that would have had anyone that _looked_ to be as injured as him wincing in pain.

"Hmph."

"Well aren't you the conversationalist," Discord commented as he saw the Mane Six start up another singing routine. "Not going to join in the festivities?"

"I find all this random singing and dancing to be really annoying," Emerald answered.

"That is too bad… and I put so much work into making the effect propagate," Discord said sadly.

"YOU are the reason everyone bursts into random song and dance numbers?" Emerald stared at Discord.

"Oh yes!" Discord nodded happily before returning his attention to the free show before him. "It was so boring, as you can imagine; just everypony going about their business day in and day out. The only singing and dancing to be had was in theatres, and those were just dreadful! So I took some time out of my busy schedule and went to work on this magical effect that would cause those enchanted to sing and dance during appropriate events. And suddenly everything was so fun and interesting! Villains sang of their coming victory and heroes danced in triumph! It was so good I just had to work on a way to make the effect propagate itself without me needing to enchant every single newborn every few years, and it was worth it!"

"You are quite full of yourself, aren't you?" Emerald stated with a deadpan look.

"Well I wouldn't be me if I wasn't, now wouldn't I?" Discord replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world before suddenly asking. "How is it that you have not been enchanted with the effect? It's on everything, and anypony to be born would have had the effect spread to them."

"I guess your spell just missed a spot," Emerald said with a shrug.

Discord wordlessly stared at Emerald out of the corner of his eyes. He was rather curious of the nature of the being beside him. There was a very small list of beings that could completely resist the spell he cast, but she didn't seem to be a spirit.

'_To be this powerful would mean she would be very old,' _Discord mused. _'But if she was that old, then she would be asleep, and still be sleeping, so she can't have been born recently; her being powerful discards that idea instantly. So what is she?'_

Discord used his magic to glance ever so slightly at the soul of the being next to him and had to force down the reflex to shield his eyes. It was like staring into the sun. She shined so brightly in his spirit sight. It was understandable, considering her immense power, but the sight of her soul made it very clear she was very young; she hadn't even passed her first century yet! How was it that she was able to possess so much power at such a young age? Looking a bit deeper into the eye searing brightness revealed something strange; the very energies of her inner soul were in flux… like it was in conflict with itself. What could that possibly mean?

Discord turned his sight away from Emerald. As much as he wanted to study this puzzle further, he wasn't lying when he said his spirit was injured and he really didn't want to chance Emerald picking up on his spying with him being crippled as he was.

"I'm back!" Fluttershy said, managing to startle Discord out of his thoughts. "O-oh my, I didn't mean to startle you! I just came back to check up on you and give your bandages a once over."

"Again?" Discord said with a raised brow. "I've been sitting here this entire time. Surely you don't believe me to be so moronic as to somehow injure myself further just by sitting in one spot?"

"I-I just was worried about you," Fluttershy said, looking chastened. "You're hurt so badly and I… never mind, I won't bother you again. Sorry…"

"…Wait." Discord sighed. "If you _must_ examine me to make sure I haven't somehow harmed myself just by sitting in one place, then you may."

Fluttershy just smiled brightly and got to work, checking on all of Discord's bandages and making sure his casts were on comfortably. Once that was done, she pulled out a pillow from somewhere and placed it behind him on his wheelchair. Giving him a comforting pat on his shoulder, Fluttershy went back over to the playing pets.

"Enjoying Fluttershy's care?" Emerald asked, shooting Discord a look out of the corner of her eye.

"Of course not. She isn't nearly exciting enough." Discord scoffed and was quiet for a long moment. "However… I do admit she has her finer points."

"_Riiiight_," Emerald said with a sly smile.

**EPSILON**

"Gah!" Emerald shouted as a large clod of dirt suddenly smacked into her. "Stop that! You're annoying me and messing up the scenery!"

The culprit merely gave a dangerous sounding rumble of a laugh.

Emerald was currently helping Fluttershy out around her property with some chores; or rather, she was trying to. Her dragon freeloader was making things much harder than it ought to have been by tearing out small chunks of landscape and tossing them at Emerald when she was most distracted, which he somehow had a perfect sense for. At first the chunks were tiny and perfectly ignorable but the dragon steadily increased the size of his ammunition as time went on and realised that Emerald was tougher then she looked; the last chunk of dirt could have easily knocked wind out of Big Mac.

"Okay, that's it!" Emerald shouted as she caught a chunk with her magic before it hit her. "Promise or not, I'm going to punch a hole in that thick skull of yours!"

"EMERALD!" The virus heard a voice shout and made her stop the charge she was about to make. She turned around to see Twilight standing a short distance away and giving her a bland look as she stared.

"Oh my, please don't fight!" Fluttershy shouted as she suddenly appeared out from her house, wearing overalls and a blue cap, only to see there was no incredible violence making a mess of the land many of her animals called home. "Oh, thank goodness! Hello Twilight!"

"Hi," Twilight stated, not taking her eyes away from Emerald.

Despite the fact he was agitating the very being that could brutalise him easily just a moment ago, the dragon realised that this wasn't something he wanted to get involved in, and retreated back to his bed of gems.

"Uhhh… hi Twilight," Emerald greeted the unicorn who didn't seem to acknowledge the greeting in the slightest. "Can… can I help you with something?"

"My house is finished being built," Twilight said finally.

"Oh… that's nice," Emerald replied a bit uneasily.

"You are coming back with me," Twilight stated. "I want you living with me again."

"O-oh, well sure thing Twilight, but I figured you wouldn't want me to-"

"Well you thought wrong," Twilight interrupted gruffly. "Now come on, let's go home."

"Right, you're the boss," Emerald stated before turning back towards the house. "NAVI, COME HERE!"

Immediately, Navi appeared out from the door and was holding a half-eaten carrot for some reason. She blew a raspberry towards something within the house and quickly flew towards Emerald. The target of her taunt appeared in the doorway soon after; it was Angel, and he was furiously shaking his paw at Navi.

"Good girl. Make sure to save some of that for later, though," Emerald muttered to Navi's delight before looking at Fluttershy. "Sorry I couldn't finish the chores! Be sure to get that lump over there to fix the holes he made!"

"I'll be fine, Emerald!" Fluttershy shouted back and waved at Emerald.

The Evolved and her pet parasprite quickly made after Twilight who had started making her way back home already. Soon, she was beside the unicorn who didn't seem to spare her even a glance.

"So why did you want me to come back to living with you?" Emerald asked curiously.

"Because sharing the same living space is the best way to keep an eye on you," Twilight said bluntly, causing Emerald to make a downtrodden look. "Who knows what horrible things you've been up to since we used to live together?"

"I haven't done anything…" Emerald protested lightly. "Not recently anyway. You know what I've done in the past and I want to stop doing those kind of things."

"So it appears," Twilight muttered and Emerald merely sighed. It wasn't like she didn't deserve to be treated like this, after all. So the virus bit her tongue and kept any protest she might have made to herself.

Twilight didn't seem to have any more biting remarks and the trip passed in silence as Navi took to taking tiny nibbles of her pilfered carrot. Eventually, they arrived at Twilight's new home.

This library was much more different than the last one. For one, it was made of red brick and mortar instead of a hollow living tree. It had two levels to it like Twilight's last home did, and just as likely had a basement to house all the science equipment she would no doubt be replacing. However, one side of the building was odd in that it was mostly windows and curved in a smooth slope where some of the glass served as the ceiling as well, from what Emerald could spy through the winds the library was located in that section. When the two entered the new library, Emerald found the interior to be just as homey as the other houses of Ponyville were, though she did find herself missing the way everything looked like it was carved out of the tree in the old home.

"Hey guys!" Spike greeted as he appeared from a doorway, Owlicious appearing as well with a hoot as he swooped out of the doorway. "Nice digs, huh? Twilight, I just finished unpacking the last of the library books and shelving them."

"Thank you, Spike," Twilight replied. "You can go finish up the unpacking in the rest of the house. Emerald and I have some things to go over in the library."

"Sure thing. Come on, Owlicious!" Spike said. "Let's go set up your stuff."

"Who!"

Emerald followed Twilight into the room Spike had just left. This Library was different than the last one. Other than obviously not being made of living wood, this library also didn't have a spare bed, though Emerald guessed that wouldn't last long with Twilight's habits. This library also had two levels to it, though the second floor only consisted of a walkway beside the massive bookcase that made up one entire wall. With the way the glass wall and partially glass roof was situated, it gave the library the feeling of being a wide open space.

"Sit," Twilight commanded as she pointed at a bare spot of floor that was soon occupied by a desk with a flash of purple light.

With a frown, Emerald did so and watched as Twilight conjured up another desk via transfiguring a small wooden figure. Twilight then placed the new desk against the front of Emerald's and took a seat. Then the unicorn pulled out a scroll that was full of Equestrian writing.

"What's going on?" Emerald asked in some confusion.

"You told me about your race and your world before," Twilight replied, attention still fixed on her scroll. "And I've made a few educated guesses with a few other things you've told me, but what you've told me is obviously just a summary. I want to know a few things in detail. Here is the list I've made."

Emerald took the list and looked it over. The evolved kept her expression from twisting into a frown as she read over the questions and the surprisingly close guesses Twilight made. Despite what she had experienced in her time on earth, Emerald did not hate humans. Being raised by someone as kind hearted and caring as Adela, Emerald had no choice but to know that humans weren't all bad. No, humans on a whole weren't a terrible and evil species. There was always the terrible few that made a lot of loud noise and gathered a lot of attention to themselves and basically made life more difficult, but, as mentioned, they were few and one shouldn't define the many on the actions and decisions of one man. Most people just wanted to live their lives in peace and be left alone. They tended to get panicky when something that threatened their peaceful lives neared, but that was hardly a trait restricted to humans, as Emerald witnessed herself… though ponies definitely had far less potential for impulsive violence during times of stress and panic. In the end, humans couldn't be defined as good or evil on a whole. The trick, however, was going to convey that fact to a member of a race that enjoyed peace for a thousand years without her immediately leaping for the evil label the moment she heard of just a few negative facts about humans. To that end, Emerald was going to withhold some details and give a minor whitewash to some facts.

"Well, for one," Emerald began, pointing at the question about the frequency of war. "What the exact number is, is always different depending on the source. But as a whole, there has been roughly two hundred and fifty years of peace in the last four thousand years of recorded human history."

"W-what?!" Twilight gasped, going pale. "I-I thought there were only a few dozen more counts of wars then our world, but… dear Celestia…"

Emerald winced. One question in and already she made a mistake. How to recoup this…

"Twilight, you have to consider some facts," Emerald began somberly, mental gears working at breakneck pace. "Earth is not a world of compassion. It's a world born of competition. Humans were part of one massive unofficial competition to determine just what species would arise to sentience first, and even when we won, when we grew smart enough to work with tools and begin our first tentative steps towards civilised society, the competition didn't end. There were sub-breeds of humans that had also managed to reach sentience and we had to compete with them as well. Eventually via interbreeding, calamity or simply possessing a better biology, humans as they are known came to true dominance. And yes, even then the competition didn't end.

"Societies formed and, like you noted here, they competed with other societies over resources, a lot of times very violently," Emerald continued. "I know what you are about to say. Why couldn't they just negotiate and cooperate with each other? Sometimes people just don't want to make things work. Sometimes, no matter how hard you try to get through to someone, they would rather sit on everything they have than share even a small surplus via honest trade. That is when the leader has to fulfil his duty to his home, his family and his people and fight for what they need to live happily and prosper."

Emerald _knew_ she was whitewashing details. When it came to the game of kings and nations, a lot of times there were no good guys. There were no sympathetic reasons on **either** side, and both were equally guilty of being greedy jackasses. But she was damned if she was going to let her mother's species be called irrevocably evil and judging by Twilight's thoughtful expression she succeeded.

"Okay… I don't like it, but I can understand it," Twilight said with a frown, the unicorn looked down at her notes a moment before she suddenly seemed to realise something.

"Emerald, you aren't running from this, this time," Twilight said with total seriousness as she leaned over her desk and stared the virus in the eye. "What is… a prostitute?"

Emerald, who was expecting a much more dire question, face hoofed. Releasing a groan, Emerald looked back at Twilight and gave her a pleading look.

"Do I _really_ have to explain that?" Emerald almost said in a tone that was almost whiny. "It's kind of sad… and embarrassing."

"Well I suppose I could put it off again… it's just that Sweetie Belle and her friends have been asking Pinkie about what a prostitute was," Twilight began, her voice shifting to a tone that was theatrically innocent and would have only fooled another pony. "And now they are thinking about trying for their prostitute cutie marks."

There was a thud as Emerald's face met the top of her desk. "Oh my god…"

"Who?"

"Never mind." Emerald sighed as she rubbed her face and returned her attention to Twilight. "Fine. You want to know what a prostitute is? I'll tell you. It's a person who exchanges sexual favours for money."

"Wha-wha-what?!" Twilight exclaimed with wide eyes, her face quickly growing as red as a cherry.

"You wanted to know," Emerald said with a smug look as she took in Twilight's obvious embarrassment.

"But… but… why would anypony… _cheapen_ themselves like that?!" Twilight exclaimed, then quickly covered her mouth and shot a worried look at the door.

Taking the hint, Emerald carefully charged up a spell and focused her intent. Her control wasn't restored just yet, but she could manage her old feats just fine if she took her time with it. With a bright flash of pink, the room was sound proofed and the doors tightly locked. Twilight gave her an odd look, having noticed the brightness of the spell and the long charge up time.

"I kind of had a bit of a power boost since Discord," Emerald explained. "I'm still working on regaining my control. Now let's get back on topic. That is to say, back to the Sex!"

"Don't say it like that!" Twilight shouted as she covered up her crimson face.

"Heh heh," Emerald laughed a little at Twilight's expense, feeling no sympathy at all for her plight. "To answer your question before… well, the reason is different for a lot of people, but there are those that don't mind having sex for money. The human race is quite… _eager_ when it comes to bedroom antics. It probably has to do with the fact that one of our specie's tactics was to outnumber our animal competitors and what better way to do that then to have lots and lots of sex?"

Emerald knew she was leaving out details, like how some girls just don't have a choice when it came to selling themselves out. Sometimes they were forced into it. Sometimes it was the only way they could get any sort of income. There was a variable amount of reasons why someone would sell their body, and quite a few were unpleasant to think about.

"OKAY, I GET IT!" Twilight shouted, head on the desk and hooves covering her ears. "I WANTED TO KNOW, AND I PAID DEARLY FOR IT! I'M SORRY!"

"Geez Twilight, it's just sex," Emerald said with a crooked smile. "It's not like I'm giving a play by play account of two people who are particularly long lasting and skilled in the bedroom."

"I'm not listening!"

"Okay, okay, I'm done," Emerald said soothingly. "What else did you want to ask?"

Twilight kept her position for a few moments before hazarding a glance at Emerald, as if afraid the fake unicorn was going to have graphic diagrams at the ready. Then she slowly sat back up in her seat and cleared her throat.

"W-well let's see what else I have here," Twilight began, steadfastly trying to force herself to pretend that the last few minutes never happened.

Emerald just smiled. Twilight's attitude towards her was already better than what it was before. The virus allowed herself to hope that things might return to the way things were between the two of them.

Underneath the desks of the two unicorns, a miniature Discord lied back in a beach chair that defied gravity and stuck to the bottom of the desk. The draconequis sipped a tropical drink as he lied back in his casts and bandages, the glass of the cup disappearing as he sipped.

'_Well isn't this just a delightful learning experience?'_ Discord thought as he continued to listen to the conversation.

**-TBC-**

AN: So the mysterious fourth type of infected ponies are revealed and amongst them is Razor Wing! One of you guessed that one correctly so props to you. And now we also have an explanation for the singing and dancing: Discord did it! Not much of a surprise when you think about it really. Emerald is also back to living with Twilight, who now has a new library. This chapter was just full of stuff wasn't it?

EN: Discord did it… sounds like a generic author fallback plan, but this time it actually works. It certainly explains the random bouts of singing and dancing. No matter which way you look at it, spontaneous song and dance numbers are anything but chaotic, even if they somehow coreograph perfectly with everyone involved.


	5. Chapter 5: Unexpected Development

Twilight awoke with a yawn.

Like her old house, her bedroom in this one was on the second floor, but unlike it the second bed wasn't something that was transfigured out of something she had lying around. Her room also was definitely not carved out space in a still living tree either, and that one fact made her miss her old home every time she looked around her new one. And speaking of looking around…

Twilight narrowed her eyes as she glared at the empty bed opposite hers, reminded of the fact Emerald didn't need a full eight hours of sleep and thus had six hours where she was completely unattended. Of course, Twilight knew she shouldn't blame Emerald for that ability, considering the "night terrors" she got, but she still felt angry for letting someone as potentially dangerous as Emerald go unwatched where she could have a relapse to her old, murderous ways.

So Twilight literally leapt out of bed and flew through her morning ritual of showering, drying herself off, brushing her mane and brushing her teeth before rushing downstairs.

As Twilight reached the bottom of the stairs, she found herself feeling incredibly relieved when she heard Emerald and Spike's voices coming from the kitchen. She opened the door to see Emerald finishing some dishes while Spike was enjoying a few fresh blueberry muffins placed in the center of the kitchen table.

"Hi Twilight!" Emerald greeted with a warm smile. "I decided to make you some muffins. I hope you enjoy them. I put a lot of effort into making sure they were made just right."

"Really…" Twilight replied as she walked over to the table and stared suspiciously at muffins on it. "You haven't put any… _special_ ingredients in it, have you?"

Knowing instantly that she was referring to the time she drugged some muffins she made one time, Emerald got a saddened expression on her face and sighed miserably. She then turned towards the kitchen sink and got the muffin pan out of it before quickly drying it.

"…I'll make another batch, Twilight," Emerald replied softly. "You can watch and make sure I make it just so…"

Spike gaped openly at Twilight for what appeared to be her picking on Emerald for no good reason. Then he shook himself out of it and glared at Twilight.

"Geez Twilight!" Spike exclaimed. "Emerald goes out of her way to make you something nice and you-"

"Spike, leave her alone," Emerald said as she turned the stove back on and started gathering baking ingredients.

"What?!" Spike shouted in befuddlement at Emerald. "Why? She's picking on you for no reason at all!"

"She has her reasons," Emerald defended lightly as she got the last of her baking ingredients together. "So leave her be."

"If you say so, Emerald," Spike said, but sent a glare Twilight's way.

Twilight for her part immediately felt guilty for her actions after she saw how Emerald took it. She looked at Spike where he continued to eat a few muffins at a sedate pace and how he didn't seem sleepy in the slightest.

"Emerald, wait," Twilight said just as Emerald was about to begin stirring up a new bowl of batter. "I'm sorry, you don't have to make up a new batch. I'm sure your muffins are just as good if not better than any other time you made muffins."

"Well why don't you try some if you think so," Spike said quickly, walking over to her and holding a muffin out to her.

"Uhh…" For the briefest moment, Twilight hesitated, the suspicion of the pastry being drugged flashing through her mind before she forcefully dispelled it. She magically took the muffin and started to quickly eat before finding herself slowing down so she could savor the taste.

"I told you I put a lot of work into it." Emerald smiled at Twilight's delighted expression.

"Well, yes… you did," Twilight said with an apologetic look. "Umm… How about we continue our discussion from yesterday? We covered about half of the stuff I wanted to know, now I want to cover the other half."

"Sure thing, just give me a moment to put stuff away," Emerald said as she magically moved everything back into the cupboards. Once that was done, she walked after Twilight who was leading the way back to the library.

Once the two were inside, they once again took up their positions at the desks against each other and Emerald cast she same spells she did the day before.

"Well what do you want to cover today, Twilight?" Emerald asked.

"I want to know more about _you_," Twilight said. "Not about your past, you already told me about that. I want to know how your biology works."

"You want to know the details about Blacklight, or as Luna calls it 'Impius Mutante'," Emerald stated. "Hmm… not too sure about the name, but it's something that doesn't remind me of Blackwatch so I may start using it more, anyway."

"What Blacklight, or Impius, is, is an intensely advanced virus," Emerald began. "Normally, a virus simply invades the body and subverts the cells to reproduce more of its kind. It may create symptoms from either eating something it shouldn't or the body attempting to fight it, but in the end it simply wants to multiply and spread. Now Blacklight takes a _massive _step forward. While a normal virus just takes control of a cell to reproduce, Blacklight is capable of using cells for more than that. In its most base form, Blacklight is just a supervirus that rapidly infects and kills quickly, but its true potential comes out when Blacklight manages to completely and utterly overtake the body. When a virus gets to the brain, it's very bad, but when Blacklight gets there in sufficient numbers and doesn't have to worry about an immune response, it basically evolves."

"What happens next is the virus basically learns how to replicate how brain cells are used and integrate it into itself," Emerald continued with Twilight's attention completely riveted to her. "Along with that, the virus is able to absorb the very memories of the being it consumed and becomes self-aware. It's able to think and can start organizing its very form into a means in which to defend itself and survive with greater ease."

"Wait," Twilight interrupted. "The virus consumes the brain cells and gain memories from that, right? And you are the way you are now from being infected. Doesn't that mean… that "you" died and the _you_ sitting in front of me is… well, a virus who thinks she was once human?"

Emerald sighed. "I know this may be a sticking point for you Twilight, but I am here and I am alive. I may just be a virus who thinks she was the child of a human woman named Adela, or I could actually be that person. I honestly don't care to give the matter much thought, if any at all."

"Oh…" Twilight said with a frown. "I just figured this was something… never mind, let's continue."

"Well… once Blacklight is self-aware, it can consciously choose what form it can arrange itself into." Emerald explained and demonstrated by briefly shifting her foreleg into a human arm. "It can also choose what traits it can take from the cells it absorbs. Blacklight can take in the memories of other beings besides the one it consumed to gain self-awareness in the first place, which means that as long as Blacklight consumes the brains of its prey, it can gain a lifetime's knowledge in an instant."

"Oh… well you must know a _lot_ then," Twilight said a little uneasily, far too aware of just how Emerald would have gained such knowledge.

"I have several master's degrees in various fields as well as a ton of knowledge from a bunch of minors people took," Emerald answered.

And just like that, Twilight's uneasiness was gone, instead replaced by annoyance and awe.

"Several _masters' degrees_?" Twilight exclaimed. "I can't even… how many years it would take just for one person to have one, let alone several. Wait… you picked up magic during your lessons awfully quickly…"

"Remember what I said?" Emerald said softly, turning her face away from Twilight in shame. "I had known what a master had known, I just didn't have the control I needed thanks to my magical circuits not interacting well."

"What happened with your… _circuits_?" Twilight asked eager to change the subject.

"It turns out having all three pony magics in your body without being an alicorn has some side effects," Emerald answered. "My magic just got in its own way when it was being used. It took me a while to learn the control needed to use magic normally. It had its benefits though, like being able to fly; I like that one… a _lot_."

"… Do you ever regret not being human anymore?" Twilight asked Emerald. "Being some sort of sapient virus instead of the species you were born as?"

"I regret what happened after I became what I am," Emerald replied. "But I do not regret being a virus; there are just too many benefits to it. I can see and hear so much! I can hear your muscles move; I can see so many spectrums of light. Not to mention how strong and tough I am, and things that would kill anyone else would just annoy me. I heal incredibly fast and now I have magic; powerful magic."

"… Yeah, I can see why you like being a virus now," Twilight stated.

"Heh… is there anything else you wanted to know?" Emerald asked.

"Well… I am now interested in knowing just what kind of fields you have a master's degrees in," Twilight answered.

"Sure thing," Emerald said.

'_This is… nice,_' Twilight thought as Emerald began describing all the various fields she knew. _'Maybe… maybe I should ease up on her… a little anyway.'_

**ALPHA**

'_Let's see…'_ Emerald thought as she leaned in close to a cage. _'Test subject number four, AKA Martin the Warrior is showing no signs of… let's call it a catastrophic meltdown, shall we?'_

Emerald was back in the Hub. She had been holding tests on augmenting non-viral life forms with various improvements to their physiology. The first three test subjects in this project… well, subjects three and two certainly had a much kinder death than one had. So far, however, subject four, whom she had given a rather hopeful name, was looking more and more like a success.

In the cage on the stone table before Emerald was a small brown house mouse, a common breed that one would find scurrying about in any home. However, this particular mouse was unique in that its normally near non-existent muscles bulged out noticeably under its fur. Currently, the mouse was running in a wheel and it had been running for several hours near constantly, only pausing to go take a few gulps of water before running more.

'_Right, looking good so far,' _Emerald thought tentatively, then she tapped on the top of the cage and got the mouse's attention. _'Let's try the "stress" test before going into the observation period for a while more.'_

Emerald opened the cage door and reached inside. Having learned from previous experiences, Martin knew better than to try to make a break for it and obediently hopped onto her palm.

Martin in hand, Emerald walked over to another table that had a small metal box with a button sitting on it. Emerald placed Martin on the red spot placed a certain distance away from the small metal box and stepped back.

Martin's whiskers twitched as he sniffed the air and wondered what exactly was going to happen when Emerald magically pressed the button on the box. The top of the box snapped open and out of the opening came a small mallet; the mallet arced through the air before smashing down atop of Martin and quickly recoiling back into the box. With that, Emerald stared intently down at Martin.

Martin for his part was lying flat on his stomach and shaking his head, wondering what in the world had just happened.

'_Bone density augmentation test successful,' _Emerald thought as she picked up the still dizzy Martin. _'Stamina increase augment proves to be working just fine. Some stress testing may be called for to see its exact limits though, and the myostatin depressant augment is obviously working as it should.'_

Emerald brought Martin to another cage, this time one that was much bigger than the one that had the wheel in it. This cage had a large network of tubes for him to run through, a little pool for him to swim in, several toys to entertain himself with and, most importantly, a large wheel of cheese, specially made by Emerald to be fresh for months. And the little guy needed all the food, considering his myostatin augment caused his muscles to bulk up easier and thus needed a lot of fuel.

With a squeak of delight, Martin leaped from Emerald's hand as soon as she opened the cage door. The buff little mouse bee lined for the wheel of cheese and started to dig in with gusto.

'_Enjoy little fella, I plan to test a number of future augments on you, so you may not last long,' _Emerald thought grimly before turning to leave.

Before Emerald could open the door, it opened itself. Missy appeared and blinked upon seeing Emerald right before her.

"Oh! Hello boss!" the golden retriever greeted.

"Hello Missy," Emerald said and noticed the Diamond Dog had taken to wearing a vest with many pockets, filled with many tools and small parts while a pair of goggles sat atop her head.

"The little Alpha from the other packs is here," Missy said. "He is waiting by the entrance and has a big bag with him."

"Fantastic, thanks for telling me," Emerald said, wondering why Tavish had a bag with him. "I'll go see him now."

After a short charge up time, Emerald teleported to the main entrance of the city. Dogs were running about all over the streets and a baggage train full of trade meats to send out to everyone. Emerald also noticed a small group of Diamond Dogs wearing clothes that weren't the basic vest that a vast majority of her dogs wore, marking them as foreign dogs deciding to see her city.

Emerald smiled at that and looked around her and quickly found Tavish sitting on a bench with a shoulder strap bag and his war staff.

"Never can get enough of this place ya know, lass?" Tavish stated with a smile. "It brings up all the many stories the elders would tell of the old kingdom. Those were just words though; this is an actual city with more than a couple hundred of our people living in it. Seeing this and remembering those tales brings the words to life in my mind and for the briefest moment… I can see just what we were like in our prime."

"Hello Tavish, glad to see you were able to come," Emerald greeted with a polite smile and waved at his bag. "And what is that for, if I may ask?"

"I'm moving in, lass!" Tavish replied enthusiastically.

"Really?" Emerald said with an arched eyebrow. "What about that village you were leading?"

"Bah!" Tavish said with a dismissive wave of his paw. "That sleepy lot don't need an ole hound like me to hold their paws. Sides lass, your lot is more exciting and less likely to cry after taking a tap on their head."

"Well I'm glad to have you here, Tavish," Emerald said and held out her hand to him and the likely dog firmly shook it. "I'm certain the Warhounds will be _glad_ to have you here to literally beat some sense into their heads."

"HA! Sounds like a good bit o' fun," Tavish said before placing his bag under the bench. "Anyway, you called me for a reason lass, though I would have come along anyway, so what is it?"

"Well, I want to get some nice underclothes for newer, better sets of armor we'll be making in the future," Emerald began. "And from one of my Alphas, I've heard about the Spider Families."

"And you want some of them nice silky shirts, ey?" Tavish said and got a nod from Emerald. "Well you are in luck! I was one o' the go to dogs for setting up meetings with the Spiders and can get cha a meeting with one of the better ones right away."

"I heard it can take up to a week just for the spiders to even speak with you though," Emerald stated.

"Well… there is a reason for that lass; a reason that'll seem quite funny and obvious when we get there," Tavish replied. "We can go see one of the families right now if you be wanting it."

"I have nothing but time, Tavish," Emerald replied. "If you are up to it, so am I."

"Great!" Tavish said and picked up his bag and war staff. "I'll just drop this stuff off with one of your boys on our way out."

"So what family are we going to see?" Emerald asked as she started walking alongside him.

"They're the Black Family."

"Let me guess… they are made up of Black Widows?"

"Heh, hit the nail on the head lass."

**BETA**

A normally several hour long trip was greatly lessened when Tavish mentioned a few areas Emerald knew and thus was able to teleport them. Before long, the two found themselves before a large cave entrance that was rather well hidden by trees and thickly overgrown underbrush.

"So what is this trick of yours?" Emerald asked.

"We knock of course!" Tavish smiled before walking over to the rock wall next to the entrance. "Now the wee little thing should be… where is the bleedin little thi- oh, here it is."

Emerald walked over and looked over his shoulder. Almost invisible to the naked eye was a small thread of spider silk attached to the rock and leading back into the darkness of the cave.

"Don't know why this took us so long to figure this out," Tavish stated as he twanged the thread.

"I heard the Old Kingdom was very isolationistic," Emerald said. "Maybe they just didn't care to learn more about the spiders."

"Maybe. Anyway, it should only take a minute now instead of a few days," Tavish stated as he took a seat against the rock wall. "I'll introduce ya to the guard and you'll be on your way to see the big one."

"You won't be accompanying me?" Emerald asked.

"Nope, this would be considered _your_ business," Tavish explained. "It be considered rude to have uh… _'extraneous advisors'_."

"Alright. Even if this goes really south, I should still be fine," Emerald stated as she leaned against the rock wall.

"They won't attack ya even at their worst, lass," Tavish replied. "If you are let in, then you are a guest. They consider it a bit rude to attack guests. They'll only attack if ya attack first and you got no plans o' that."

"Sounds perfectly reasonable," Emerald said with a nod.

"Alpha, Tavish Degroot," a voice suddenly said.

Emerald looked to see a black widow spider standing at the entrance of the cave. It was black and easily the size of a pony; it had four almost entirely black eyes with small red pupils. It was also wearing clothes. A dark purple bowler cap sat on its head and it wore a dark purple great coat with sleeves for four of its eight limbs, both were made of silken cloth. Oddly enough, instead of a few reds spots on its back, it had a crimson picture of a paint brush and palette.

"Hello!" Tavish greeted cheerfully.

"And what is your reason for visiting us this time?" the spider asked. "Surely the terms of the agreement were more than fair."

"You're all a bunch of the stingiest people on the face of the planet and you know it. Course they don't think its fair," Tavish said bluntly, and although Emerald wasn't sure, the spider might have been smiling slightly. "But I ain't here for that. This is Emerald Gleaner, leader of a recently found city of Diamond Dogs called the Enclave. She wants to open trade relations with your family."

"Hmm…" The spider looked up and down Emerald's form for a moment. "I shall bring this matter to the Lady Black. Await my return."

"And now we wait a couple of minutes," Tavish said. "Lot better than waiting a week for a reply, ey?"

"Definitely," Emerald agreed. "So how do the other packs feel about my people?"

"A good many definitely like you for the free meat, and you can expect a steady stream of dogs from now on," Tavish replied. "But… there are those who don't like the fact you want to steal away our youth now that we can afford to support a larger population. Funnily enough they don' seem to realise they can only afford that thanks to your meat."

"You can't please everyone," Emerald shrugged. "Considering your fighting skills, you would be interested in joining up with the Warhounds, right?"

"Oh definitely lass."

"I'd like to hear the story of how you got so good at fighting," Emerald said.

"It's not one specific tale, lass. I'm an old dog and been through and seen a lot. Sides…" Tavish said and pointed at the cave entrance where the spider from before was standing. "You might have more important things to talk about."

"The Lady Black shall meet with you, Emerald Gleaner," the spider said. "Please follow me and I shall lead you to her."

"I'll be back, Tavish," Emerald said and approached the cave.

"And I'll be here nappin," Tavish said as he settled in and pulled his beret over his eyes.

Rolling her eyes, Emerald followed the spider into the cave. At first she only saw a long deserted web strewn tunnel, but soon she came into a massive cavern with structures made of webbing hanging in midair and from the ceiling. It was utterly dark, but it meant little to her powerful eyes. The spiders all wore silken clothes dyed various colors and had clothing styles that reminded Emerald a lot of clothes from the turn of the nineteenth century. Strangely, they also had hair and another thing she noticed was that they all had different markings on the top of their abdomens. The virus turned towards her guide to ask a question.

"No, we did not copy the ponies," the spider suddenly said with audible annoyance. "The tradition of marking ourselves with symbols that one considers pleasing is one that started long before ponies arrived in these lands, and is not magical in any way."

"I was merely going to ask if they were like the marks ponies have," Emerald replied diplomatically. "I wasn't going to ask or imply in any way if you copied it from ponies."

"Well it isn't and it wasn't," the spider stated and continued on the path.

Seeing her guide wasn't exactly in a good mood anymore, Emerald decided not to try to speak until she met their lady. The other spiders in the cavern didn't really pay her much attention. The few times they did, they only looked her over a moment before returning to their business, though a few prissy looking large spiders in intricate frilly dresses shot her a look that was likely displeasure. After a few moments of contemplation, Emerald figured the reason why she got the looks was because of her clothes; her baggy boys' clothes didn't exactly compliment her slim, feminine figure.

Before long, she found that they were approaching a particularly large web structure that was close to the floor. It was rather hard to tell just how big it was with the other web structures and various columns of webbing that served as roads, but it _seemed_ to be as big as a mansion.

There was a ramp of webbing leading up into the structure. There was a pathway of wooden floor boards atop the webbing to keep non-spiders from sticking to the path. As Emerald walked along the path, her guide came to a stop beside the massive gaping entrance of the structure.

"The Lady Black waits within," he said and waved one leg towards the entrance.

"Right, thank you," Emerald said with a nod before stepping inside

Once inside, Emerald saw nothing but a wide open space with webbing walls on all sides, with the wooden path leading to the middle of the room. There was no sign of any spider, but since she was dealing with a spider, she looked in the worst place to find a large spider; above her.

"Well poo, everyone else only sees me when I drop down in front of them," said the incredibly huge black widow that must have been as big as a dragon before she descended down onto the floor. "The looks on their faces are like the juiciest _treats_ that can't help but brighten your day."

The massive black widow was wearing a red and purple blouse with an equally colored bonnet. She had long white hair that was styled into a curly coiffure and the mark on her abdomen was a winking smiley face that had a pair of horns on it.

Emerald's first impulse was drop down onto a knee and pay respects to the spider, but remembered she was known to be a leader of a nation to her, and would be expected to act a certain way. So instead of dropping down onto a knee she bowed her head to the spider for a moment.

"Greetings, Lady Black," Emerald said respectfully. "I am Emerald Gleaner of the Enclave."

"I am Remilia Black of the Family Black," Remilia replied in a clearly morose tone. "And I must say, I've certainly never met a creature like you before."

"This species is referred to as a human, Lady Black," Emerald answered and paused as she considered something else for a moment. "…But I am not exactly human. I am a shape shifter."

Emerald proved her claim by briefly shifting into her pony form before returning to her human form. She wasn't exactly sure what reaction she was expecting, and she couldn't read an insect's facial expressions with any great skill, but Remilia seemed to look a bit sad.

"A shape shifter, hmm?" Remilia sighed. "That must be nice, to be able to change your appearance and look pleasing to all eyes; to be able to fulfill any standards and be recognised as a beauty as all."

Emerald wondered why Remilia decided to talk about this instead of getting down to business, but didn't interrupt, believing being someone for her to briefly vent on would only improve negotiations.

"You likely didn't know this, but in the eyes of my people I am an incredible beauty," Remilia continued. "Many years when I was younger, smaller, more naïve but no less beautiful, I had decided to go on an ill-fated journey to explore the world. Imagine my shock, my hurt, my outrage when instead of being recognised rightly as the beauty I was, the ponies of the first town I visited declared me a _hideous_ monster. Rather than put up with what would likely be a repeat performance at every other town I'd come to, I decided to return home, ending my trip early…"

"I can see what the problem is," Emerald stated in the following silence. "Amongst humans, my form would be considered beautiful. But to you, I must be an ugly, misshapen creature. Only two eyes, no mandibles, body proportions are all wrong, my skin has the wrong texture and I have half as many as the _proper_ number of limbs which both end in odd appendages."

"Well… I do like your hair, though," Remilia replied, agreeing with her without stating so. "It's such an eye catching shade of pink and looks as smooth as my own silk… that horrid hat does it no favours though."

"Well, on to business I suppose," Remilia said, and did what was likely the spider equivalent of squaring her shoulders. "The family would be open to trade with your little nation… if you would handle one little issue for us?"

"I'm listening?" Emerald said, inwardly wary of what she may hear.

"There is a cave troll blocking one of the tunnels leading to a portion of our home, you see," Ramilia began. "I would like you to persuade him to leave our home and to check up on the area he blocked to make sure nothing else dangerous decided to move in, in our absence, and to clear it out if there are dangerous creatures there."

Though it sounded a bit like adventurer work and not something you'd ask another nation's leader to do in exchange for a business deal, Emerald was willing to do this.

"Very well, I agree to this," Emerald said with a nod. "I'll get started right now. Where is the tunnel in question?"

"I shall have one of my own guide you," Remilia said, and another black widow rapidly descended from the ceiling. This one had short silvery hair and had a symbol of crossed knives on its back and appeared to be a maid from the way its clothes looked. "She'll lead you to the tunnel."

"Greetings Emerald Gleaner, I am a servant of the Lady Black," the maid said respectfully, giving a bow while pressing her front most legs together in front of her. "Please follow me; the task the Lady has assigned is not too far away from here."

Emerald wordlessly walked back down the wooden path she took into the web manor and followed after the maid once she was back on stone ground. The virus soon found herself being led to a tunnel entrance being guarded by dozens of spiders, some of which were very large.

"I'm guessing the cave troll is rather dangerous?" Emerald questioned as she walked past the guards.

"Well… yes, but we are a bit more worried about what may have taken up residence in the other parts of the cave," the maid said before coming to a stop. "I shall await your safe return. Please do not endanger yourself needlessly for our sake."

"There is no danger of that," Emerald stated and continued on her way.

For a short while, Emerald saw nothing but a winding tunnel lined with spider webs but eventually the sound of something smacking against a hard surface met her ears. After turning around a corner, Emerald came to the sight the cave troll tossing a fairly large rock up into the air and catching it. It was a gray skinned and fairly burley looking creature with something that was either fur or moss growing around its shoulders, around its waist was a crudely made loin cloth. Overall, the way the creature looked reminded Emerald a lot of how cavemen were depicted in newspaper comics.

"Ahem," Emerald cleared her throat, deciding to at least give peace a chance before resorting to violence. "Hello, I am-"

"PRETTY PINK THING!" the troll boomed happily, briefly clapping his hands in delight.

"Err yeah…" Emerald nodded and hoped the creature just had a poor grasp of the language. "I want-"

"PET PINK THING!" it boomed and stomped over to Emerald, reaching out towards her with a massive hand.

Emerald easily side stepped the troll's grasping hand. Either it meant to pet her or keep her as a pet. She was rather against it either way.

"No touchy!" Emerald shouted and leaped up into the air. The cave troll boggled at Emerald with his disproportionately small eyes for a brief moment before she lashed out with a fairly 'light' punch.

"AUUUUUUUUGGGGGH!" The troll bellowed in pain and began to let out a few sobs. "MEAN PINK THING HURT BILL!"

'…_Did he say his name was __**Bill**__?' _Emerald thought with wide eyed surprise as the troll stomped away in tears. _'Wow, I've been here so long hearing normal names like Bill is odd instead of names like Ink Well and Time Turner. Heh, anyway let's get on to business.'_

Emerald followed after the troll at a sedate pace, both to make sure he cleared out of the cave and to make sure no dangerous animals had moved in during the spiders' absence. However, when she turned the next corner, instead of seeing a crying troll retreating into an abandoned spider cave, she saw said troll being held be a much larger troll that was wearing a shirt, and there were at least six other trolls in the chamber.

'_What the?' _Emerald blinked at the sight before her. _'Either the other trolls came in later and Remilia didn't know about them… or more likely she just left some details out. Wow, I just fell for my own tactic… I feel stupid and oddly amused.'_

"STUPID PINK THING HURT LIL' BILL!" the largest troll in the bunch growled as he stomped forward. "TED SQUASH STUPID PINK THING!"

'_Guess there is no point trying to talk through this,' _Emerald thought as she hopped out of the way as Ted brought his foot down on where she stood. _'Let's give them a reason to shut up and listen.'_

Emerald jumped back a few dozen feet away from the furious troll and shifted her right arm into a hammerfist. Ted stopped in one place to stare dumbly at Emerald's shifted limb as it rapidly grew in size and weight before the virus charged forward. The lumbering troll barely had time to react to Emerald's changed limb, let alone her blinding charge at him, before she had already reached him and leaped at him, hammerfist cocked back to deliver a powerful blow.

"GRRRAAAAGH!" Ted roared in pain and surprise as he was sent flying through the air, tearing through a web structure before crashing into a cave wall, causing it to partially collapse on top of him.

Emerald looked around and saw that the other trolls had grown incensed over this display of violence and were likely about to charge at her, so she decided to show them how bad an idea doing that was. The Evolved's chest started glowing bright blue before she suddenly let loose a beam of plasma at Ted's dazed body.

If the sight of a little creature punching their biggest and strongest across the room wasn't going to make the trolls hesitate, it making a blinding beam of plasma that was hotter than magma and killing one of their own with it certainly did.

Emerald ended her beam and wiped away a glowing globule of plasma from her mouth. The beam was around ten thousand degrees, hot as the surface of the sun in certain 'cooler' places, so in the very least Ted didn't feel anything as a hole was burned through his chest, as the temperature would be too great for the nerves to process.

"Listen to me!" Emerald shouted at the now visibly scared trolls. "The spiders sent me to clear you lot out, because you all decided to take their homes from them. Now, I don't want to kill ALL of you, so I am giving you all a chance to leave on your own accord. So what is it going to be? You either leave this cave or you leave this mortal coil."

"W-WHAT ACCORD MEAN?"

"MORTAL COIL IS SPRINGY THING?"

Emerald felt her eye twitch. "GET LOST BEFORE I DECIDE TO KILL YOU ALL!"

The trolls understood that message much more clearly and quickly took flight, their ponderous footsteps shaking the cavern as they ran.

"AND DON'T COME BACK!" Emerald shouted at them.

After staring at the retreating forms of the cave trolls for a bit, Emerald directed her attention to the body of the one she killed. She made her way over to it and climbed up to its head before placing a hand on it. A single tendril from the palm of her hand drilled through the skull and into the brain before rapidly consuming it.

'_Even if the deal goes south, at least I'll get __**something**__ out of this,' _Emerald thought. _'Don't know what I can do with this, but it's still something.'_

Just then, Emerald heard a chittering sound as something stepped on a stone surface, with her powerful hearing. Closing her eyes, she concentrated and was soon teleported to just beside the source of the noise.

"Eep!" A rather small black widow squeaked at Emerald's sudden appearance. She was wearing a maid outfit, but was too small and didn't have the same hairstyle as the other maid to be her.

"So… were you here to check up on me?" Emerald asked. "Or was Lady Remilia aware that I was going into a much more complicated situation then she described, and had you to simply watch me flail away at the problem?"

"T-the Lady isn't cruel!" the maid shouted, growing incensed for a moment before wilting as she quickly recalled Emerald's violent display. "Err… s-she is… she just expected you to do something different than what you actually did."

"Hmm…" Emerald considered that. She was incredibly powerful, and most people weren't, so their first response to dealing with large cave trolls would likely not be the violent path she took. "I can certainly see why. You may report back to Lady Remilia. I shall be right behind you."

"Right!" the maid shouted and quickly ran away as Emerald walked back at a leisurely pace.

The virus figured she might as well give Remilia time to think up an excuse for what she did… although the longer she thought about it, the more she thought the maid may have been right. Doing anything that involved violence against a pack of cave trolls wasn't something a normal person would do. So in all likelihood, Remilia expected her to talk things out or try something devious instead of what she did instead; violence and death.

'_Didn't I finish telling Twilight a while ago that I was trying to stop doing this kind of crap?' _Emerald thought, sighing at her hypocrisy. _'Well… I did say I was __**trying**__; occasionally there are a few hiccups. Still, I should be trying harder… oh well, I didn't kill all of them at least, only one of them and I certainly would have just killed them all before I changed for the better.'_

Emerald soon arrived back at the entrance to the tunnel where the maid that led her to it was still waiting. If the other maid told about what happened, she didn't react, and simply led her back to Remilia's web manor.

"And our triumphed hero returns," Remilia stated casually as Emerald came to a stop before her. "That was certainly a unique way of handling the cave trolls."

"I hope you don't mind my methods," Emerald said calmly. "I did get all the cave trolls out and reclaimed the cavern. By the way, would I be so bold as to ask why you didn't inform me of the other trolls in the cavern?"

"My intent was to test you," Remilia smoothly. "I didn't actually expect you to manage the task I set before you. I was merely going to observe how much effort you put into accomplishing the task and that would determine how fairly negotiations for trade would go on my part."

"Hmm…" Emerald thought the whole quest to determine worthiness shtick was very RPG'y but wasn't going to comment on it. "I hope I passed, considering you are sharing that fact with me. I also respectfully ask you don't do that again. Withholding crucial information I mean. Depending on certain details, I would be willing to help on many things."

"It is quite a pleasant experience to meet a fellow leader who has a sense of humbleness in her," Remilia stated cheerfully. "Shall we get down to business?"

Emerald smiled.

About an hour later found Emerald leaving the spider cave. The first ten minutes of negotiations were spent in agreeing on what would be a fair trade for the spiders' services. The spiders were carnivores like Diamond Dogs were, and that fact tended to have a limiting factor on how big their population could grow. So Emerald offering them a steady supply of fresh meat was a very tempting offer that Remilia couldn't resist, even more so as the massive spider always wanted to hold a feast like the ones she always heard about. The rest of the negotiations were about setting up transportations routes for the goods. Ramilia was also sending the Enclave a representative they could talk to about any changes in the clothes they wanted.

Emerald looked to see that it was now approaching sundown from the warm colors of the sky. Tavish hadn't moved from his spot and was snoring softly as he continued to nap peacefully. The virus stepped next to the little dog before crouching down and shaking his shoulder. Tavish snorted in his sleep before yawning and pushing his beret back up.

"Hello lass…" Tavish muttered as he got up and stretched up his limbs. "So, did everything go well? I don' see any guards, so you didn't' get kicked out."

"Everything went perfectly well," Emerald replied. "I set up a trade agreement with them, offered them a steady supply of meat in exchange for goods and services. I probably wouldn't have gotten even half as good a reaction from her if I offered precious metals."

"Meat is hard to come by, lass," Tavish replied. "Everyone has to ration everything carefully or everyone will just end up going without and starve. It's that fact that makes me wonder just how you are able to get so much of it."

"Well since you're a part of the Enclave now, I can show you." Emerald smiled as she began walking. "We'll do that once we get back, then afterwards we'll find you a nice apartment to set you up in."

"Sounds good to me, lass."

**GAMMA**

Emerald couldn't help the annoyance she felt as she walked down the street with Twilight barely two steps behind her. The two were going down to a celebration being held in Rainbow Dash's honour as the mare had saved the lives of a few ponies in the last few days. However, that was not what Emerald was annoyed about.

Ever since she came back from the Enclave after doing some work for it, Twilight had remained by her side nearly every moment she was awake. It was a bit of a downturn from before she left for the Enclave as it looked like Twilight had decided to cut her a break, but now it appeared that the day or so she had been out of sight was all it took for Twilight's uncertainty about her to come flooding back. The unicorn was apparently afraid Emerald would have some sort of relapse to her "old days" and start killing ponies, which Emerald found ridiculous. Even when she killed people when it was the easier way, she had always done so for "good" reasons. Dealing out death because of pettiness was what Mercer's pet psychopaths did… an arguably bad reason considering she was once a part of said group. Still, having a tiny kill count in comparison to the other Cadre Evolved was a point of pride for her. So honestly, she couldn't help but be annoyed with Twilight despite knowing she deserved to be treated this way.

"Twilight, you know…" Emerald began slowly as she came to a stop. "Maybe you could… lay off a bit… please? I understand your reasons completely to be treating me this way, but I could use even just a small break from it…"

"Now Emerald I am just looking out for your moral well-being," Twilight defended and quickly took a look around to make sure the street was appropriately empty. "…As well as the physical well-beings of the ponies around you."

"I…" Emerald couldn't help but feel hurt and angry at what Twilight had said. She wasn't a rabid dog liable to rip the face off the first child she saw. "Just… just WHAT is it going to take to convince you I am TRYING to be a good person, Twilight?! You think I wanted to be the way I was, to be paranoid of everyone and everything? No, I wasn't. I became that way out of necessity and stayed that way out of habit. And now that I **know** I don't have to be that way, I won't. I honestly want to be a better person, and I'm not going to suddenly go bad out of nowhere."

Twilight stared at Emerald with wide eyes for a moment before opening her mouth to speak, and then she closed it. After a few moments of Twilight looking contemplative, Emerald figured she wasn't going to reply and continued on her way to the celebration, the other unicorn still following but not nearly as close as before.

They soon arrived at the location the celebration was being held and were welcomed by the sight of Rainbow Dash eagerly soaking up all the attention everyone was giving her.

Emerald frowned at that. Rainbow's ego had been growing in leaps and bounds with every person she saved. Now that wasn't entirely a bad thing; one should celebrate their accomplishments and feel good about themselves for it. But Dash was saving people, and while her ego was good before, now it appeared she preferred the attention for saving lives rather than appreciate the fact she was saving lives.

"And then I zoomed into the well," Emerald heard Dash say as she and Twilight entered. "I knew it would be dark and dangerous, but I didn't let that stop me. Danger's my middle name. Rainbow 'Danger' Dash. Thinking back on it, I acted pretty awesomely heroic that day."

"… That day," Spike repeated as he wrote something on a notepad while wearing a reporting outfit for some reason.

"Awesomely heroic that day and awesomely arrogant ever since," Applejack commented under her breath just loud enough for Twilight, Pinkie and Emerald to hear.

Emerald threw the others a look as Twilight and Pinkie agreed with Applejack. Was it really terrible that Dash was celebrating her accomplishments? The virus didn't think so, but what she did agree with was the fact that Dash was taking it a little far.

"Hey, Applejack," Dash said as she darted over to the cowpony. "How'd you like to be immortalized as my friend?"

"Immorta-what?" Applejack said in confusion before Dash suddenly wrapped a foreleg around her and a photographer quickly snapped a picture.

As Dash stroked her own ego some more, Twilight walked over to investigate what exactly Spike was doing. She leaned over his shoulder and took a look at what he was writing in his notepad. She raised an eyebrow at what she saw.

"Are you taking notes?" she asked the baby dragon.

"Yup!" Spike answered cheerfully. "I've been hoof-picked by Rainbow Dash herself to write her autobiography!"

"Umm…" Twilight began with a frown. "Autobiographies are supposed to be written _by_ the pony they are about.

"Maybe for your normal, run-of-the-mill ponies," Dash broke in and walked over to the two. "But I'm far too busy saving lives to stop and write"

Okay NOW Emerald was fairly certain Dash was taking things a tad too far. Ss crises prone Ponyville seemed to be at the best of times, it certainly wasn't THAT bad. She couldn't have been constantly busy saving lives like she claimed; even if she was, it would make her current act of taking time to celebrate how great she was instead of focusing on saving more lives incredibly selfish and heartless.

"That's why I hired Spike as my ghost writer!" Rainbow said as she gave the little dragon a pat on the head.

"Spike's a ghost!" Pinkie yelped and ran out of the building in a flash.

'_Good ole Pinkie,'_ Emerald thought as she smiled after the mare.

"...Anyway," Dash continued. "Spike here writes down everything I say. Don't you, Spike?"

"Don't... you... Spike," Spike repeated as he dutifully copied down Dash's words. "Got it!"

"This way, I can stay focused on performing those acts of bravery that nopony else has the guts to perform," Dash explained. "Yep, it takes guts. But it also takes brains… and sometimes a big lunch and a nap. Being a hero is surely not for everypony, but I'm up to the challenge!"

Dash then went about posing in pictures with all the little kids in her fan club. The others gave each other looks, completely unimpressed with Dash's behavior. Emerald for her part shook her head and decided to approach Rainbow Dash and talk to her about how she was acting.

"Hey Emerald!" Rainbow Dash greeted. "Want the honour of having your picture taken with me?"

"Okay, one," Emerald began with a good natured smirk. "I am the famous model here."

The virus struck a glamorous pose and the photographers immediately took the opportunity to get free pictures of her posing. The flashing of cameras went on steadily for several moments before Emerald stopped her posing and threw a pointed look at Dash.

"Oh, trying to steal my thunder, huh?" Dash said with a challenging but excited grin.

"You can keep the thunder, I prefer the lightning," Emerald said with exaggerated pompousness for a moment before bursting into laughter that Dash immediately joined in on.

"Listen, do you think we can talk?" Emerald said and quickly threw Spike a glance. "_Alone_?"

"Sure!" Dash answered cheerfully. "We celebs have to stick together after all! We'll just walk over here and you can just lay whatever you want to say on me."

"Great."

Emerald and Dash walked away from the crowds and into the next room to get some privacy. Once they were alone, Emerald took one last look around to make sure no reporters were trying to snoop before beginning to speak.

"Listen, Dash," Emerald began. "I want to talk to you about what is going on with you and all these ponies here."

"Isn't it great?" Dash said excitedly. "All these ponies getting together to celebrate how awesome I am? Heh, maybe I'll as famous as you are before long!"

"Yeah, celebrating your own accomplishments is great, isn't it?" Emerald said with a smile. "It's nice to feel good about yourself and to have others tell you that you are a great pony."

"Oh yeah!" Dash agreed. "I can see how it's like for you to be famous!"

"Maybe, but what I want to know is this," Emerald began with a serious look that made Dash calm down. "What is more important? Saving lives, or being seen as a hero?"

"Saving lives of course!" Dash replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Anypony who thinks differently has a few screws loose."

"Dash… you have been acting like saving lives isn't as important as being treated like a hero," Emerald stated solemnly.

"What?! No I haven't! I…" Dash's denials ended in the face of Emerald's steady stare at her.

"Look Dash, I'm not saying you are a bad pony for celebrating your accomplishments," Emerald said as Dash averted her gaze away from her. "Anypony who saves the life of another deserves to be treated like a hero and you saved like half a dozen ponies in the past three days, not to mention your previous actions regarding Nightmare Moon. You deserve to be treated like a hero and deserve to enjoy being congratulated for your accomplishments. But you started going a little bit too far. You started treating the fact you were being treated like a hero as more important than the actions that got you that treatment in the first place."

"…Yeah, I did go a bit far didn't I?" Dash said after a moment, looking back at Emerald with a sheepish expression.

"Only a little bit, Dash," Emerald said soothingly. "Like I said, there is nothing wrong with celebrating your accomplishments, but you should keep in mind why you were being celebrated; saving lives is an incredibly important responsibility, after all."

"I will, Emmy," Dash said with a smile and gave the virus a good natured punch in the shoulder. "Thanks for talking some sense into me."

"What are friends for?" Emerald said before the two returned to the celebration.

"Rainbow Dash!"Scootaloo shouted excitedly and darted forward, her Rainbow wig nearly flying off. "Can I get another autograph?"

"Sure thing squirt and…" Dash said then trailed off as she looked at Scoots' wings thoughtfully. "How about something better? How bout I give you a ride to the sky?"

"REALLY?!" Scoots squealed with delight as she gave her idol a starry eyed look.

"Yep!" Dash nodded and took flight and grabbed Scootaloo off the ground. "You guys hang tight! I'll be back with some cake!"

"Yay!" all of Dash's young fans cheered happily.

"Wow, now that's a turnaround if ah ever saw one," Applejack commented. "What did ya say to her sugercube?"

"I just reminded her how important saving lives is," Emerald replied. "And that it's not something that should be cheapened by doing it for popularity."

"So you just talked to her?" Rarity said. "That… is admittedly a much better answer to Dash's behavior then what we were planning…"

"Really?" Emerald asked. "Just what exactly did you have in mind to solve Dash's behavior?"

"Oh, well…" Rarity began, feeling rather awkward.

Though she had a hand in crafting the idea of curtailing Dash's behavior, Twilight wasn't feeling embarrassed for being beaten to the punch by something easier and better. Instead, Twilight was staring at Emerald with a contemplating look.

**DELTA**

Princess Celestia took a sip of her tea as she looked down at her newspaper.

She was relaxing in one of the studies of her palace; it was a calming day so far. The return of the stolen weather machines had taken some of the edge off of the economic strain. She had also tentatively announced that the Gray Fox wasn't going to be a threat to Equestria's economy; this had the intended effect of causing business stocks to start rising back up at a steady pace, but held the risk of having the economy crash badly if Jack decided to start stealing again.

From the way the articles in the first few pages read, people were beginning to become rather hopeful of the near future. Celestia was very encouraging of such behavior. She was also proud to say that her public works programs were also doing much to improve the situation. Giving jobless ponies work allowed them more financial freedoms and they spent it on more things than just the necessities; this was key to getting the economy moving again.

Turning a few more pages, Celestia came across an article that featured her sister's new student, Emerald Gleaner. The article was talking about Emerald's new style of poses and how popular the ads that featured them were becoming. Taking a look at the picture above the article Celestia saw Emerald wearing some working gear and lying on her side, she had her eyes hooded and was holding a wrench towards her mouth sort of like it was a microphone, strangely she also had her tongue sticking out from between her lips a little.

Celestia just found the pose odd and wondered how it became popular. She was about to flip to the next page but something stopped her. She found herself staring at the picture of Emerald; something about it struck her as exceedingly odd and almost reminded her of something. After several moments of studying the picture, Celestia's eyes widened and her cheeks flushed as she suddenly realised what exactly the pose reminded her of.

'_Oh my goodness gracious…' _Celestia thought in shock a she raised a hoof to her mouth. _'To make such a __**suggestive**__ picture for all to see… the audacity of it all…'_

Then Celestia's shock melted away, instead replaced by amusement. She giggled out loud as she studied the picture more. Suddenly she frowned again.

'_Hmm… does anypony even realise what this picture looks like?' _Celestia thought curiously. _'Does even Emerald? Actually, I have the strongest feeling that Emerald does know what her pose looks like.'_

Just then the doors to the study burst open and Luna came charging in wearing a sleep robe with shocked and embarrassed look on her face.

"Sister, have you seen the material in today's paper!?" Luna shouted. "Tis most shocking and appalling!"

"And what exactly are you referring to, Luna?" Celestia asked, carefully schooling her features into one of innocent curiosity.

Luna looked down at Celestia's paper and saw she was on the very page she was referring to. She pointed at the picture with a hoof.

"That picture sister!" Luna shouted as her cheeks flushed. "For my own student to act in such an… an… _inappropriate _manner! And it's in the paper for all to see!"

"Why sister, I haven't the slightest clue what has roused you so," Celestia said with convincing innocence, though on the inside she was laughing. "I for one don't see what is wrong about the picture."

"W-what, can you not see how inappropriate the picture is?!" Luna asked incredulously with rising embarrassment.

"I do not, Luna." Celestia answered with a shake of her head. "I shall even call another pony for a second opinion. Excuse me!"

"Your Highness?" One of the guards outside the room leaned in.

"Could you come here a moment?" Celestia asked. "I need you to look at something."

"Of course, Princess!" the guard answered and quickly moved over to her. "What do you need me to look at?"

"This picture, what do you think of it?" Celestia said.

"Hmm…" The guard leaned over the newspaper and took in the picture. "I think it's a nice picture of a very beautiful mare… who is posing rather strangely. Although, that is oddly appealing to me… hmm…"

"There we go, sister," Celestia stated with a smile. "You may go now, and please close the door as you leave."

"Of course your highness."

As the guard left the study, Luna looked completely mortified with herself, thinking since she apparently was the only one who saw a problem with the picture was because she was dirty minded. After a moment of this, Celestia laughed, deciding to take mercy on her poor younger sister.

"You are not the only one to see the _suggestiveness_ of the picture, Luna," Celestia said giggling.

"Oh thank goodness!" Luna said, not even mad she was tricked; just happy someone else thought the way she did. "I am just thankful all our subjects are so _young_ and innocent, otherwise they would know for sure what the picture is implying. I for one am going to confront Emerald on this matter and make her stop this completely inappropriate posing."

'_Hmm… it might be too late for that.'_ Celestia thought, thinking about how Emerald was a famous model and the common pony tended to mimic the famous. _'In all likelihood, her 'style' of poses will catch on simply because of her fame. Hehehe, I think I should get a subscription to a fashion magazine or two. This sounds like it'll be a good laugh."_

**EPSILON**

'_Right time to head out again,' _Emerald thought as he started for the door of the library. _'The testing phase of the augments is over so I have to start applying them to the dogs. Hopefully Twilight won't go off the deep end while I'm gone and think I've gone evil just because she wasn't watching me.'_

"Emerald?" the virus heard Twilight call and turned to see here standing at the door to the library.

"Err… yes Twilight?" Emerald said a little uneasy at the thought of what Twilight's reaction may be to her leaving unannounced.

"Where are you going?" Twilight asked.

"I am…" Emerald began hesitantly but reminded herself to not hold anymore secrets from Twilight. "Going to go check up on my dogs as well as a few other things."

"… Can I come with you?"

Emerald blinked at the question, having not expected it. Her first impulse was to think of a reason why she couldn't bring Twilight along. However, she soon decided that wasn't right and decided that if Twilight wanted to see what she was up to, then she wasn't going to deny her.

"If that is what you want, Twilight, then sure," Emerald answered.

"It is," Twilight said with a serious nod. "I want to see what you get up to when you disappear for hours at a time and all night."

"Come here then. I'll just teleport the both of us from here," Emerald said and the other unicorn came in close. "Stay close now, I need a bit of a charge up time."

Twilight stepped in close to Emerald and, after a few moments and an increasingly bright glow from the fake unicorn, the teleport finally went off. In an instant, Twilight found herself in a completely unfamiliar environment.

All around here were Diamond Dogs, but not as she knew them. The Diamond Dogs she knew were bulldogs and wore some armor on their heads and around their chests. These dogs were in far greater variety when it came to different breeds, and while most wore the simple vest she seen before, others wore more complicated outfits. It was clearly obvious she was in a cave as well, as the ceiling and the darkness attested and that didn't surprise her, what did was the apartment complex like stone buildings around her.

"What is this place?" Twilight asked with a little wonder as she turned her head this way and that in an attempt to take everything in.

Emerald was about to answer when someone else did it for her.

"This is the Hub," Belvedere answered as he approached the two. "The center of our nation within a nation, the Enclave."

"Seems like you are always nearby when I arrive via teleport, Belvedere," Emerald stated curiously.

"I thought you were doing that on purpose?" Belvedere said with an arched brow. "You weren't?"

"Your speech…" Twilight said as she stared at the tall greyhound. "I thought all Diamond Dogs talked in broken equestrian."

"That was a result of the dragon's slavery. We once had a language all our own," Belvedere explained. "In fact we still do, but those of us enslaved by the dragon have lost much of their heritage."

"What exactly happened?" Twilight asked. "Emerald said she uh, _slayed_ the dragon that had enslaved your people, but didn't explain how it all began in the first place."

"The dragon was named Nidhogg," Belvedere said and noticed when Twilight's eyes widened in realization. "Yes, the very same Nidhogg that was supposed to be held in the legendary pony prison, Tartarus. He had escaped via digging his way out, but ended up in our tunnels. From the tales of our elders, we knew we had a prosperous city state a million strong. But that all changed when the dragon attacked. Ironically, the panic from dogs fleeing killed more than Nidhogg's flames ever did. The starvation that followed the scattering of our people into the far reaches of the tunnels killed more still."

"Nidhogg ruled the people who stayed in the smoking ruins of their nation with an iron fist," Belvedere continued. "He incited great terror into our people and through that terror kept us enchained to him, despite us having near constant chances to run away. He had us gather gems for him to gorge himself on and when we started encountering ponies in our frenzied digging he ordered that we enslaved them and force them to work in the mines."

"This bleak existence continued for a hundred years," Belvedere stated gravely before allowing a small smile to grace his stoic face. "And then Emerald came."

"She told me about her… _meeting_ with your people," Twilight stated and threw the virus a look. "I didn't think it would be a very nice thing to reminisce about."

"It is when you think about the results," Belvedere stated. "She came and took control of us from Nidhogg, admittedly violently and forcefully with the first of us, and then she took care of Nidhogg himself. The great dragon that had terrorised us and had us paralysed by fear in his grasp for a century was then slain in what was no doubt a great battle."

"It was mostly me taunting him like a moron then running all over the place in panic once he started breathing plasma," Emerald said with modest honesty. "Most of the credit goes to Navi for distracting him and allowing me to get in a mortal blow to his back."

"Ha, the unsung hero of the Diamond Dogs, Navi the Parasprite," Belvedere said with a short bark of laughter. "I'll be sure to spread this legend."

"You have not only my consent but my encouragement," Emerald said with a smile.

Twilight looked between the two of them, feeling there was a bond between them that spoke of deep seated trust.

"So what happened next?" she asked after a moment.

"After Emerald took over, our situation improved with each and every day," Belvedere said and looked to be recalling said days fondly. "Once she took over, she had all the spread out packs gathered together and released all the slave ponies we had. She ended our gem gathering and soon we were eating much better than before, thanks to dedicated efforts to gather food. Then she had us collect all of our imprisoned brethren and moved to a new home, to a place that no one would dare look for us in; the Everfree."

Twilight blinked her eyes and took in her surroundings again, but wasn't too surprised the Enclave was located in the Everfree. After all, Emerald was likely the most powerful and dangerous thing alive in this place. Anything that would threaten the dogs would definitely have to deal with her.

"We soon got permanent homes and our situation only improved from there," Belvedere continued. "Eventually we… obtained tools and learned how to work them and created even better forges and improved our metal working. But the absolute best improvement we've experienced was no longer needing to ration our food."

"We are carnivores, we _need_ meat to survive," the Alpha stated. "Gaining meat from an arguably ethical source was always the hard part of feeding ourselves. Emerald, however, fixed that for us and gave us an incredibly large supply of meat that we can easily share with other carnivores and have more than enough to spare for ourselves."

"How did you do that, Emerald?" Twilight asked curiously.

"I created meat trees," Emerald answered without hesitation. "They have a regeneration ability and can digest any kind of biological matter through their roots if it's in a mostly liquid state. From this they grow meat fruit at an incredible pace."

"Wow!" Twilight exclaimed. "I knew you could alter your form on a cellular level, but I never knew you could do that for others things."

"I didn't just alter something to create the meat trees," Emerald replied. "I created them from scratch."

"Who is this pony you have brought here anyway?" Belvedere asked. "Another pony recruit?"

"No." Emerald shook her head. "A closely trusted friend. I'm just showing her around."

"Ah." Belvedere stared at Twilight for a long moment before nodding at Emerald. "I'll leave you to your business then. I've got my own to finish."

"What's this about a pony recruit?" Twilight asked.

"I have a pony here who decided to join me after a long stay with us," Emerald answered.

"How did she come to stay with you?"

"She didn't have much of a choice in the matter," Emerald replied. "She was a convict that had snuck into our midst with the intent of stealing from us and ended up seeing something I had really wished she hadn't. So I kept her prisoner for several months, rewarding good behavior with increased freedoms but kept her from just running via a biological restraint."

"And she just decided to join you one day?" Twilight said with a frown. "Why? Can you even trust a pony like that?"

"Even she doesn't really know _why_ she wanted to join us, but I have my ideas," Emerald said. "And I can't really judge her on her past considering my own, so… I decided to go on a limb and try trusting someone for a change… I haven't come to regret it… so far, anyway."

"That must have been really hard for you," Twilight stated, coming close and placing a hoof on Emerald's shoulder, recalling a time when Emerald even saying she trusted someone to make a nice dress for her was hard for her.

"What can I say; you brought out the best in me," Emerald smiled softly at Twilight who blushed a little. "Do you want to meet her?"

"Sure," Twilight said with a nod. If she was going to give someone like _Emerald_ a chance to be a better person, it would behoove her to do the same for a simple criminal.

The two made their way through the underground city. The entire time, Twilight kept looking this way and that at all the various sights and sounds of Diamond Dogs living happily. The violet unicorn was determined to give Celestia a letter about the disappearance of one of the prisoners in Tartarus; she just needed to figure out a way word it carefully so Celestia went to go check up on the prison herself without suspecting anything… and the thought she was going to withhold information and even try to manipulate the princess into doing something immediately made Twilight's mood take a downturn.

'_W-well… how else am I supposed to get her to do it?' _Twilight thought miserably. _'If I just tell her why I know, then I'll be revealing Emerald… wait, half-truths and lying without lying, how would Emerald do it? She would say she… met a dog and learned the story from him, which is exactly what happened with me! And… I recall in the newspaper that Emerald's alter ego the Gray Fox talked about dealing with the Diamond Dog's previous leader and how he overthrew him. Yes, I can do this!'_

Twilight's mood rose back up as quickly as it fell. She wasn't lying to her beloved's princess' face anymore; she was just not mentioning certain things, and in her mind that made up all the difference in the world.

"Looking like you're having a mood whiplash back there," Emerald commented. "Are you okay?"

"I was just thinking of a problem I was going to have," Twilight answered a bit cheerfully. "And I figured out the answer to it."

"Oh? That's good."

"So why aren't we simply teleporting to our destination?" Twilight asked.

"I figured you wanted to get a better look at what I had going on here," Emerald answered. "So walking would be a better way of doing that."

The two arrived in the rail yards just in time for one small train trailing a cargo cart to arrive and offload some empty ammo crates before loading up on some full ones. Emerald brought Twilight over to the train and the two were soon catching a ride.

"So what are in these?" Twilight asked over the sound of the engines, motioning at the green boxes.

"Ammunition," Emerald answered.

"And that is?"

"Bullets, which is…" Emerald began. "Think of them as really advanced arrows!"

"Why do you need so much?" Twilight asked, recalling the several empty crates the train off loaded.

"This is Everfree," Emerald answered. "Most animals learn that our area is dangerous and that they shouldn't try hunting here, but some don't so we need to keep a guard up. Plus we need ranged practice with the weapons."

"Ah," Twilight said and wondered what sort of advanced bow let loose these "bullets". Since Emerald was giving her an unrestricted tour, she would be getting to see what exactly her friend was talking about soon enough.

The train soon arrived on the surface and chugged to a stop near a ramp where several dogs were awaiting them. As they arrived and the dogs started unloading the ammo crates, Twilight noticed in the distance some sort of enclosed farmland that held rows upon rows of black bush like plants. She couldn't see details from this distance, but from the way the plants glistened and how black they looked, they gave her a feeling that they were unnatural. The fact several dogs were wearing thick protective clothing and chainmail as they harvested the leaves of the plants made her certain of that, and that Emerald had a cause in it.

"What are those?" Twilight asked, pointing at the plants in the distance.

"Dragon scale shrubs," Emerald answered. "Another creation of mine. They grow the same hard scales Nidhogg had in life and we gather them up to create an incredibly tough armor… well, in the future anyway. I think they are still testing various armor designs around here… anyway, Whisper Wind's home is just this way."

Emerald motioned to a stone and wooden cottage in the distance and the two made their way over to it. Part way there another voice broke in, but this time it startled Twilight rather badly.

"**Greetings virus."**

"GAH!" Twilight jumped at the unnaturally deep voice and quickly darted to just behind Emerald when she saw the source.

"Hello Sovereign," Emerald greeted a Timber Wolf with a nod.

"**I have come to praise you for your ceasing of cutting down trees for room," **Sovereign said and Emerald easily predicted what was coming next as an insult. **"You have yet again proven you can be something other than a completely destructive simpleton."**

"So when it's you being giant and tearing out of the ground, ruining it in the process, and stomping on trees its fine," Emerald stated with a raised brow. "But when I do that for constructive reasons I am a destructive simpleton?"

"**Yes,"** The spirit said without a moment's hesitation.

"Figures."

"E-Emerald what is this?" Twilight asked.

"This is my friend Soverign, the _sovereign_ of the Everfree," Emerald said with a grin. "_Real_ creative huh?"

"**If I recall correctly, you were the one to give me the name," **Sovereign commented with all the smugness in the world.

"Shh! No one asked you!" Emerald said with a harshness that could have been easily mistaken for real.

"**And I require no one's permission to speak,"** Sovereign replied. **"If I feel that the stupidity that surrounds me requires comment, then I shall comment."**

Twilight looked between the two bickering "friends" with wide eyes. This was nothing like she learned friends were supposed to act with each other. If anything, the two seemed like two people that didn't like each other but were forced to meet with each other often. She and her friends never insulted each other… well okay, they did sometimes, but only when they were angry with each other. It was never a part of how they treated and acted with each other. So how could these two be friends?

"Friends? Really?" Twilight said incredulously. "But you two insult each other and don't really seem to like each other!"

"Yeah, and?" Emerald said with a questioning look, a look that Sovereign seemed to be giving her as well. "I may poke a little fun at the big bag of roots, but I would still help him if he asked for it."

"**It is the same with I as well," **Sovereign admitted without the slightest hesitation. **"… Although in all likelihood, I'd be helping this peon here get out of a problem she caused in the first place."**

"Oh now I'm a peon instead of a simpleton?" Emerald said with a raised brow. "Better than being what you are at least."

"**And what exactly is that supposed to imply?"**

Twilight stared at the two with some curiosity. This wasn't anything like the friendship she learned about in her time in Ponyville, but spending time with Emerald now seemed to be teaching a lot of strange and new things. The idea that a pony could do good things and be a good friend yet still commit such incredibly vile acts was an alien idea that Twilight was forced to acknowledge. Along with that was the idea of telling a truth in such a way that no one needed to lie but still manage to conceal a truth. Twilight found herself wondering just what other strange concept she would be learning from Emerald and whether or not it was a good thing.

"**Hmph, I've said what I have come to say," **Sovereign said as he turned to leave. **"I shall be taking my leave now."**

"You just don't like losing!" Emerald shouted after him.

"**Hmph, preposterous!" **Sovereign stated and marched off into the forest.

"Well… shall we get going?" Emerald said with a wide smile at Twilight, seemingly cheerful after speaking with her unorthodox friend. "Still have to introduce you to Whisper Wind."

"Sure, let's go," Twilight said, though she was a little distracted, busy thinking about all she had seen so far and learned from the lean Diamond Dog, Belvedere.

The cottage wasn't too far away, and in a minute or two they found themselves at door and knocking. Soon the door opened and the former convict peeked out and opened it all the way when she saw who was standing there, from within the home came the smell of freshly cooked stir-fry, though very likely to be without the meat.

"Hello there, boss!" Whisper greeted with a smile.

"Hey boss!" Emerald heard a familiar voice call from within.

"Bluno?" Emerald called questioningly. "What are you doing here?"

The Diamond Dog husky made his own appearance by leaning into view.

"Just having some lunch with a friend, boss. Speaking of which," the husky Diamond Dog said cheerfully. "Who's that pony there? Friend of yours?"

"Yes, this is Twilight Sparkle," Emerald introduced. "Twilight, this mare is Whisper Wind and this cheerful fellow here is Bluno, an alpha of my dogs."

"A pleasure to meet the both of you," Twilight said politely.

"Hello!"

"Twilight Sparkle…" Whisper said with a thoughtful look. "Isn't she Princess Celestia's student?"

"Yes she is," Emerald nodded.

"Jeez, you really get around don't you?" Whisper asked and Emerald had to hold in a snort of amusement. "Diamond Dogs, spiders, celebrities and now this."

"What can I say?" Emerald shrugged. "It all just happened and built up over time. Anyway, how is your training going, Whisper?"

"Going great!" Whisper stated excitedly. "And it's all so exciting and _scary_ to be taking those trips into the forest, even knowing there is a bunch of Warhounds nearby ready to help you at a moment's notice."

"Hmm… you really like excitement, don't you?" Emerald said, now all but certain of what Whisper found appealing about being in the Warhounds. "Why not become a guard before instead of a thief?"

"Ew no!" Whisper said and scrunched up her face in brief disgust. "Do you know most of the time guards spend their time standing in one place and watching the world go by? No fun at _all_! Now stealing stuff was exciting and it used my talent. There was no telling if I would mess up at any one time and have to go on the run, maybe getting away or maybe getting caught. All very risky… of course, I did get caught eventually; it was how I ended up in Alcoltraz in the first place. And then I tried to steal from your dogs and _you_ ending up catching me; wasn't very pleasant at first, admittedly, but I don't regret ending up here ultimately."

"It's nice to know that, Whisper," Emerald replied.

Twilight stared at Emerald. After everything she had seen and heard, she decided that Emerald really was trying to be a better person. Why would she waste time and resources on helping her dogs when she could have spent it on herself? Why give the thief a chance when she could have locked her up and thrown away the key? There were definitely some rough spots, what with her stealing from Equestria and causing a great amount of harm, but when taken account to her past, it could have easily been _much_ worse. Yes, Emerald definitely was making an honest and true effort to be a good person… and she wasn't making it easier for her to do so by being so hard on her.

"Emerald, I'm sorry," Twilight said.

"Huh? What for?" Emerald asked.

"For being so mean to you, Emerald," Twilight said miserably. "You really are trying to be a good person; you've freed slaves from tyranny and given them a home and all the food they could ever want. With your power, you could do anything you want and nopony would be able to stop you but you're not letting it get to you. I'm not making it any easier for you to be a good person by constantly judging you and distrusting you. Emerald, you are one of my most dear friends and I completely trust you."

"Twilight… thank you so much," Emerald said joyfully. The one person she shared with how she really was, all her darkness and all her attempts to grow beyond it, and she was still her friend. The virus felt a warmth bloom in her chest and felt herself go on autopilot for what happened next.

"Emer-MMMPH?!" Twilight began questioningly but was stopped by Emerald's lips meeting hers.

Bluno's eyes boggled at the scene before him and Whisper Wind's jaw practically fell to the floor as her face turned crimson. Not only that, but several nearby dogs that were going about their own business spotted what happened and gawked at it.

Emerald herself was in bliss for a moment when her eyes snapped open once she realised what she just did. She pulled away from Twilight with wide, panicked eyes and was met by the unicorn staring at her with an open mouth and utterly cherry red face. She turned in place and saw all the people staring at her in shock.

"Em-Emerald… wh-what?" Twilight tried but seemed to not be able to get her thoughts in order.

"Twilight I-I…" Emerald began but couldn't think of anything to say.

In rising panic, the Evolved quickly built up a teleport and left. Despite her sudden departure, everyone still stared for a long moment at the spot she stood on as Twilight lifted a hoof up to touch her mouth.

**ZETA**

"Let's see… feelings are hopeful with the return of the weather machines," Rarity quoted from a newspaper. "Populace of Cloudsdale starting to feel at home again despite immense losses of personal effects. Well that is wonderful. It's about time things started to look up again."

Rarity was at home and enjoying some tea while reading a newspaper over a bit of lunch. Today was another day like any other and there didn't seem to be any catastrophe threatening Ponyville lately… thankfully. The last few days were just filled with one disaster after another. Construction yard accidents, a dam breaking, runaway carts. It was just a total and utter miracle that Rarity and her friends always happened to be nearby to help.

As the glamorous unicorn was about to take a sip of her tea, there was a sudden intense pink flash and Emerald appeared in mid-air and landed on her hooves with a thud.

"Oh my!" Rarity gasped. "Emerald dear, what a pleasant surprise. Did you come to visit?"

"Umm… sorta," Emerald said with a guilty look on her face that immediately had Rarity worried. "Uhh, can I stay with you for… a while?"

"Oh dear… what happened between the two of you now?" Rarity sighed, rightly thinking Emerald did something to make things _complicated_ again between her and Twilight. "Of course you can stay as long as you like darling. As far as I'm concerned, my home is your home."

"… I kissed her," Emerald said softly.

"Err, what?" Rarity asked.

"I kissed Twilight," the other unicorn said more clearly.

"Well it was an accident, dear. I don't see why she would take it so badly," Rarity said in annoyance with Twilight.

"It wasn't an accident," Emerald said, more to herself then Rarity. "I did it on purpose."

"…" Rarity just stared at Emerald with a confused expression, like she just heard the most absurd thing in the world. "You kissed her… on purpose. Emerald… I don't know how to tell you this, but Twilight is a mare. Did you… get spelled or some such and now she looks like a stallion to you?"

"No, Rarity," Emerald said seriously. "I didn't kiss her because of some trick or mistake, I did it because… I wanted to."

"But you are a mare!" Rarity exclaimed. "She is a mare! I… I don't understand this Emerald. How are you attracted to another mare?"

"… Do you think there is something wrong with me because of this?" Emerald asked with a level stare.

"Emerald I… no I don't, there is nothing wrong with love after all." Rarity sighed. "But… I've just never heard of this before! A mare attracted to another mare? It's the most bizarre thing to my ears."

"Rarity, if you have a big problem with this I can-"

"No Emerald, please don't leave," Rarity quickly interrupted. "I'm sorry… I really should be more supportive instead of questioning why, shouldn't I?"

"If it helps, where I come from it isn't unheard of at all for people of the same sex to date," Emerald stated. "I'm not entirely sure if it would be called common, but it happens and I suppose I would be one of them considering…"

"Oh dear, Emerald…" Rarity said as she walked over and gave Emerald a hug, having suddenly realised that Twilight must have reacted badly if Emerald ran to her again. "Just stay as long as you want dear. If Twilight comes by, don't worry about speaking to her, I'll handle it."

"Thank you Rarity…" Emerald said as she briefly took comfort in the embrace. "I'll just be in the guest room… I need time to think."

"Of course, darling," Rarity replied and let go. "I'll get a fresh batch of tea ready and bring you some."

"Thank you," Emerald said and walked away.

Before long, the virus found herself lying on the guest room bed and thinking to herself.

'_Why did I do that?'_ Emerald thought sadly. _'My best and truest friend and I ruined it all… why did I kiss her? Why am I even attracted to her in the first place? They aren't ugly in the least and look like horses the same way humans look like apes but ponies are cute to my eyes, not sexy or anything along those lines. But Twilight… I am attracted to her, admittedly not in a sexual way but… neither would I be adverse to partaking in such actions with her… __**if**__ she asked… extremely unlikely.'_

"Uhh… Emerald darling!" Rarity called out. "Could you come here a moment?"

Wondering what Rarity wanted, Emerald left the guest room and soon arrived in the main room. She entered the room to see Rarity standing beside the front door with a still utterly crimson Twilight standing in the doorway. Emerald felt very much like she was having one of those 'Deer in headlights' moments.

Rarity looked between Emerald and Twilight for a long moment before sighing and walking away.

"If anypony needs me, I shall be in the kitchen," she said before walking away but stopped for a moment before looking at Emerald. "If you need me for _any_ reason at all, just call."

Emerald didn't give any outward sign she heard and just continued to stare at Twilight, who seemed to prefer to stare at everything but her. Eventually, she gulped and forced herself to look at Emerald, and somehow her blush deepened.

"T-T-Twilight I am SO sor-"

"Why did you kiss me Emerald?" Twilight asked seriously.

"I…" Emerald gulped as she found herself at an utter loss for a specific reason why she kissed Twilight, so many reasons flashed through her mind, but nothing specific. Then the Evolved suddenly realised she didn't have **A** reason, she had many.

"Because you know me like no one else in this world does…" Emerald began. "Because you are incredibly smart. You are wonderful person who isn't afraid to admit when she is wrong. No matter how serious the problem, you are one of, if not _the_ first, ponies to step up to the challenge. And despite everything that said you should have revealed me and come after me… you gave me a chance. I owe you so much Twilight… if I hadn't met you… I don't even want to think what kind of person I would have become… you are the reason I am the way I am now."

Twilight seemed to grow even more embarrassed with every bit of praise she heard come from Emerald and no longer could look at her.

"And… I think your eyes are pretty too," Emerald said with an obvious attempt to melt the tension.

Twilight giggled at the last compliment.

"R-really?" Twilight said, looking at Emerald out of the corner of her eye. "The only physical thing you like about me is my eyes?"

"Well… I figured if I said what else I liked about you, we'd be here all day." Emerald's answer got another embarrassed look out of Twilight.

"Th-this is so strange Emerald…" Twilight said softly. "And here I was wondering what other strange things I'd experience from you… but… Princess Celestia did send me here to learn new things, now didn't she?"

"Wh-what…do you mean?" Emerald said, eyes widening in hope.

"Well uh… yeah…" Twilight simply said with a small shy smile at Emerald.

Suddenly the violet unicorn found herself being wrapped up in a hug by Emerald who had the widest smile she ever seen on her. Twilight found herself panic stricken for a moment, wondering what she was supposed to do. She had read many books after all, but none of them were on the subject of romance. So, tentatively, she just returned the hug and figured she did the right choice when Emerald snuggled in a bit closer.

Twilight was just thinking about all the books she would be reading and ordering to make sure she knew enough on the subject of romance when she realised something.

"Oh my gosh…" Twilight gasped, making Emerald crack open an eye at her. "We just started our relationship and we already live in the same house and sleep in the same bedroom! What is everypony going to say about me, about us!?"

"Twilight, you are overreacting," Emerald said with a knowing smile. "They won't be commenting on that fact for a while. The fact that we are two mares in an unheard of relationship is going to be attention grabbing to them."

"Oh… right…" Twilight said and after a long moment asked, "I'm supposed to feel happy, aren't I? Why do I feel… scared?"

"Things are so much more complicated now," Emerald sighed. "There is no telling what the future holds… but at least I have someone to face it with now. I'm tired of being alone."

"You were never alone, Emerald," Twilight said in gentle reproach. "You had everypony else too; your friends."

"You know what I mean, Twilight," Emerald said with a small laugh.

"Oh… right, me as in _me_… sorry."

"Never change, Twilight."

**ETA**

Princess Celestia was about to settle into bed when two scrolls suddenly appeared over her and dropped down onto her large bed.

'_What's this?' _Celestia wondered and looked closely. _'This one is marked Friendship Report. Ah, Twilight must have learned something new. Well, some reading before bed will be fine. Let's see what my student has learned today.'_

Giving a wondering glance as to the contents of the other message, the Princess simply put it on her bedside table before crawling under the blanket. Then she magically unrolled the scroll and started reading.

_Dear Princess Celestia,_

_Today I learned that friendship doesn't always come in forms you recognize. Sometimes those with the closest bonds can have the most unusual friendship; I learned this lesson from two others who spent most of their conversation insulting each other, yet both admitted to being willing to leap to the other's defense at a moment's notice. I also learned that sometimes friendship can grow into something more, into something greater, as I learned this very day when one my friends became very special to me. I just never thought I'd ever find myself in a relationship with another mare, or for that mare to be your sister's student._

_Your Loyal Student,_

_Twilight Sparkle_

As Celestia read over the letter her smile grew as she read about the new lesson Twilight learned about friendship, the two friends she met must certainly be a sight to behold. Then her smile became as bright as her own sun when she started reading about her dear student finding someone special. However, the smile quickly died down and faded to a blank expression with wide staring eyes as she finished reading.

The Princess of the Sun lowered the scroll onto her bed and blinked her eyes slowly for a few moments before looking at the other message. Then she shook her head and simply lied down on her bed.

'_Well… she certainly learned something new, didn't she?' _Celestia thought. _'Hmm… I believe I shall save seriously pondering this development for tomorrow. Yes, that sounds like the proper decision, let's just sleep on this.'_

With that, Celestia magically blew out all the lights in her room.

**-TBC-**

AN: And there is the reason for the chapter's name. Did you know when planning this story out way back when, my first idea for a pairing was Pinkie Pie? Hell I even had a few ideas of how Emerald and Time Turner would work out if it was given a chance.

EN: Well holy crap. I had been given a slight teaser about the ship, but I had no idea that this was how it would turn out. *cracks a wine bottle against the hull of the ship* Christened! Let the ship sail forth! Heh, anyways, awesome chapter once more. I know we're always waiting on the edges of our seats for what happens next, so see you all in the next chapter.


	6. Chapter 6: Shaky Start

Emerald stared down at the piece of parchment in her hooves, Navi napping in her mane.

She was in Twilight's library and had recently received a letter from Over Look, the CEO of New Paradigm. He had sent her a message you could practically feel the excitement off of. The small publishing company she had convinced him to buy had gotten a "mysterious" package left on its doorstep. Upon opening the package, the workers found it contained the Gray Fox's Autobiography. Over Look was rather excited about it, but was a little unsure if he should have it published. Obviously the book would be _very_ successful, thanks to the Gray Fox being an infamous thief that was never caught, but at the same time Over Look didn't feel entirely comfortable profiting off the misery the master thief had caused.

Emerald frowned as she hummed in thought. She was fairly rich as it was, but sales from the autobiography would only increase that wealth. She wanted Over Look to publish that book, yet didn't want to push him too hard; she herself had a bit of a reputation to uphold after all.

Thinking for a brief time Emerald quickly penned a reply parchment.

_Dear Over Look,_

_I understand your concerns over unethical profiteering, but this book would only help the economy with the sales. One of the biggest reasons a recession is so bad is because ponies want to save as much of their money as possible, and an economy needs money to flow to operate, let alone recover, properly. Ponies will want to know about this infamous figure and his past, see the inner workings of the criminal mastermind that thought up all those daring heists and escapes, enough that their desire to save their money will wane in the face of this. Yes, the Gray Fox brought pain and misery, and yes, it is a terrible thought to profit off it, but in the grand scheme of things this will end up being another wheel that helps the economy to roll forward again. I highly recommend that you go forward with plans to publish the book en masse._

_Yours Sincerely,_

_Emerald Gleaner_

Emerald sat back once she was done with her letter and gave it an appraising look. It seemed about right to her eye. Still, she wasn't going to reply with it right away. Best to look it over several times over the day and make sure everything felt right before sending it via Spike.

Absently thinking about things she could change in the letter to possibly improve it, Emerald levitated over a spare piece of parchment and crunched it up into a ball before transmuting it. Ending up with a crimson apple in a flash, the virus instinctively buffed it on her white coat before taking a bite.

As she chewed, she found herself thinking about the golden apple tree grove back in Canterlot and how she had taken several seeds for her own use. Well, she _had_ several seeds. They were planted now and growing slowly with golden saplings already poking through the dirt. Of course, being that they were trees they were going to need a _long_ time to grow.

'_Mmmm… those apples tasted delicious,' _Emerald thought with a smile as she recalled the apple she ate. _'I suppose it wouldn't be uncalled for to give the trees a bit of a boost, hmm? They are going to take years and years to grow otherwise. I'm sure my dogs won't mind them, and Whisper Wind will definitely love them.'_

Suddenly, Emerald heard the door open and sounds of hooves upon a wooden floor. Turning around, she saw Twilight step into the library.

"Oh, uh… good morning s-sweetie," Twilight said a tad nervously.

Emerald had to suppress a wince and just arched an eyebrow at Twilight instead. Sweet little pet names didn't seem like something Twilight would give out, and felt rather forced when she said it.

"Uh, Twilight, you don't _have_ to give me a pet name. You know that, right?" Emerald stated. "I think the both of us are perfectly fine with just calling each other by name."

"Bu-but my research states that ALL couples call each other by sickly sweet pet names!" Twilight defended.

"And does this research happen to be purely made up of romance novels?" Emerald asked with a knowing smile.

"Err… yes?" Twilight said with a sheepish look. Truthfully, she didn't have anything else about the subject of dating and relationships to look up in her collection, a fact she had quickly set about solving. The books she had ordered just hadn't arrived yet, and the unicorn decided to work with what she had.

"Trust you to look for the answer to life's questions in a book," Emerald said with a shake of her head.

"You CAN'T be saying it's a bad thing to do?"

"It's a good habit, I'll give you that, Twilight," Emerald answered as she rolled up her letter and put it away. "But not every answer can be found in a book."

"Hmm…" Twilight hummed in thought but didn't look that believing of Emerald's statement.

"So… are you going to stay cooped up in this library for much longer, Twilight?" Emerald asked.

Ever since the day the two became a couple, Twilight had stayed inside her library and rarely ever stuck her head out the door. Clearly there was something wrong, and Emerald wasn't going to let things be any longer.

"Well… it's just that…" Twilight began with her nervousness clear to see. "I can't help but be afraid of what everypony's reaction to me- to us- will be. I try to think it won't be that bad, but then I remember how everypony reacted to Zecora when she came into town… and now I can't help but be afraid of being treated that way as well. And what are our friends' reaction going to be?"

"Well going by Rarity's reaction, I'd guess they'd be confused at first, but quickly support us once they see we need it," Emerald stated as she walked over to stand beside Twilight and then gave her a hug.

She could understand Twilight's concern really. Horror stories of teens coming out to their parents only to get disowned and kicked out, and people getting lynched and not being able to report it because the authorities would rather ignore them ran through her mind. Then she quickly shook her head clear. Those were just the worst case scenarios, and as far as she knew, they weren't as often as they were a few decades ago back on earth. The fact that they were in Equestria meant that the reaction they would likely get would be much more tame.

"But what about everypony else?" Twilight asked in a soft voice.

"I can't really speak for everypony else, Twilight," Emerald answered. "We're just going to have to go out and see for ourselves."

"… Must we?"

"You can't stay inside forever, Twilight," Emerald stated gently. "Come on, the quicker we get out in the public eye, the faster everyone will get bored of the novelty of having a same sex couple living in town."

"Right… you're right," Twilight said and inhaled deeply as she steeled herself. "…Let's go out. I want to see what Fluttershy is up to."

"Of course. Let's go."

**ALPHA**

"I just can't believe something like that can happen!" Bon Bon exclaimed.

Bon Bon was with Emerald's friends, namely Lyra, Rose Locks and Time Turner, at a table outside a diner. Clock Work had unnervingly never been heard from since the whole red beam and red skies event a while ago. They had heard about Emerald and Twilight's shocking relationship about a day after they became a couple. Like everyone else in town, they were rather surprised about such a thing.

"She likes mares," Time Turner murmured. "So that's why it didn't work out… I was just the wrong gender. Nothing I could have done about it at all."

"Well… not really. I mean, I've heard about this spell for- gah!" Lyra began but was swiftly kicked beneath the table by Rose Locks who shot her a warning look.

"It is rather odd, isn't it?" Rose Locks stated as she patted Time's back comfortingly. "I've never even thought of such a thing being possible. Why would it be possible for two mares to fall for each other? It's not like they can have children… though it isn't like they can't adopt, I suppose."

"You know, you took it rather well," Bon Bon stated. "I mean, we all got over it; Emerald is our friend. But you seemed to get over it in a few hours. We all needed over a day to get over it. I mean, it's just so strange."

"I… don't know how to answer that," Rose Locks with a frown. "I was shocked at it like all of you were, but I just… felt like I should accept her for how she was, like I had a responsibility to accept her."

"Huh. Odd," Bon Bon commented

"Hey look!" Lyra shouted and pointed towards the street.

Everyone turned and saw that Ponyville's most talked about couple was walking down the street. The four weren't the only ones to have noticed the two, and everyone else was staring and whispering as the two went on their way, something the two were only too aware of.

Emerald looked like she was trying her hardest to not look angry, and Twilight seemed to be very stressed out by all the attention. Eventually, she seemed to not be able to take it anymore and teleported away in a flash of magic.

At that event, Emerald seemed to snarl quietly and sent an incredibly impressive death glare at everyone she could see, causing them to recoil at the sight. Emerald continued to stare at everyone before her for a few moments before teleporting away as well, likely going after Twilight.

"Well… that could have gone better," Bon Bon commented with a sympathetic look.

"Oh definitely!" Lyra agreed.

**BETA**

"Twilight!" Emerald shouted as soon as she arrived back at the library.

"I'm here, Emerald," Twilight replied from her seat at a library table, looking depressed as she laid her head on the table surface. "I'm sorry for running like that. I just… panicked, I suppose. I guess I shouldn't have done that. I mean they were just staring at us."

"It's alright,Twilight. Being stared at like that wasn't exactly comfortable for me either… though I am kind of used to something like that…" Emerald replied. "Just don't apologise for yourself. You are not at fault here."

"How long is this kind of stuff going to last?" Twilight asked with a groan as she put her head face down on the table.

Emerald just walked over to Twilight and placed a hoof on her shoulder comfortingly. Inwardly, she was thinking of something she could do to make things better in some way. After some thinking, she decided what Twilight needed most was an activity to distract herself and maybe feel a sense of normalcy. With that in mind, she figured the best place to do that was to go to the Hub, the place where if she made a command, then people would jump to follow it.

"I have some things to do back in the Everfree," Emerald said. "Would you like to tag along and see me work?"

"That sounds better than what I'm doing now," Twilight replied and looked up at Emerald. "But what about your dogs? They know about us as well. Wouldn't they stare too?"

"Maybe, but they are _my_ dogs," Emerald replied. "If I told them not to, they wouldn't."

"…Okay, let's go." Twilight said with a slight smile. "We didn't finish my tour last time, didn't we?"

"Right, get ready," Emerald said and stepped in close to Twilight and quickly charged up a teleport.

A moment later and the two plus one sleeping parasprite arrived in the quickly growing underground city of the Enclave.

The dogs had long since grown used to Emerald's suddenly arrivals, but this time they stared at her and the sounds of whispering began to grow in volume. Twilight quickly began to look stressed again at all the attention she was getting, while Emerald was feeling furious. After Twilight started to get so stressed out that she appeared to want to run away for people staring at her, she wasn't in the mood to tolerate it from her own dogs.

Stepping forward, Emerald glared at everyone before her and inhaled for a shout. She felt her magic surge, reacting to her anger and rush up to her head and rest around her throat. Had she been in a calmer state of mind, this would have given her pause. As it was, she ignored it and shouted.

"**AND WHAT ARE YOU STARING AT!"** Emerald boomed deafeningly.

Dogs yelped in pain as the sound of Emerald's voice echoed in the enclosed space for a moment before falling silent. The dogs in the local area weren't the only ones who yelped as well. Practically everyone in the whole city had heard the shout from the startled shouts and yelps. Twilight had shouted as well. She may not have suffered as much, since her ears weren't as sensitive as the Diamond Dogs', but she happened to have been only a few feet away from Emerald when she shouted.

"AHHHH!" Twilight shouted with her hooves over her ears. "OH MY GOSH THAT WAS LOUD!"

Emerald's mouth closed with a clack of her teeth as she looked at Twilight remorsefully, a look she quickly gave to her dogs. Taking a few breaths, Emerald dispelled the built up magic around her vocal chords. She then waited several moments for the rings the dogs likely had in their ears to die down before speaking again.

"All of you mind your business," Emerald stated firmly. "Now."

"Oh, ow…" Twilight moaned as she rubbed her ears as, all around her, dogs quickly scattered before Emerald.

"Are you okay?" Emerald asked with concern. "I am so sorry, Twilight. I didn't mean to hurt you. I didn't mean to hurt anyone. My magic just suddenly surged and I…"

"I am fine, Emerald," Twilight reassured with a small, somewhat forced smile. "But I didn't mean for you to get mad at your dogs for me…"

"Just because you are in a relationship with another mare doesn't mean people should stare at you like you are a freak of nature," Emerald said with a scowl not directed at her. "There is nothing wrong with what we have. The sooner people realise that, the sooner they don't have to deal with my anger."

"Maybe we should go do whatever it was you needed to do?" Twilight suggested.

"I'm sorry, Twilight…" Emerald apologised. "I guess I shouldn't be so quick to anger, right? It's just… you are the best thing that ever happened to me. I don't want to lose you because people made us being together too stressful for you."

"I didn't abandon you after learning the truth, Emerald. I am not going to abandon you because a bunch of ponies keep staring at us," Twilight reassured the viral unicorn with a hug before smiling. "Besides, you're used to being stared at, aren't you? I figure I might as well see what it's like."

"Oh we both know what it's like, uncomfortable," Emerald replied with a smile at Twilight. "Right, on to business. Follow me."

The two were off down the now deserted streets before they soon moved onto streets that weren't as empty. The dogs did stare at the two, but soon lost interest and went about their way; it likely had something to do with Emerald's deafening shout.

"Oi!" Came a shout, and soon Tavish came into view rubbing his ears. "What's all the shouting about 'ere!? Some o' us have sensitive ears, you know!"

"Sorry about that, Tavish," Emerald said. "I was just making sure everyone understood that I don't want Twilight being stared at for the both of us being a couple."

"Defending your own, that I can understand," Tavish said as he continued to rub his ears. "Jus' wish it weren't so bloody loud!"

"You don't seem all that surprised over it," Emerald commented."

"I marked ya for a weirdo the moment I laid eyes on ya!" Tavish said with a chuckle. "I ain't gonna be surprised when you go and do odd things, lass."

Suddenly, Emerald heard a small yawn and a buzzing trill come from between her ears.

"You are only _now_ waking up Navi?" Emerald questioned with a frown. "What, did you stay up all night or something?"

Navi made an indignant trill as she made her way over to her spot atop Emerald's ear.

"Well you certainly are lazy today," Emerald stated then looked back at Tavish. "Anyway, can you round up a few Warhounds and get them to head to the new Orion building?"

"Oh. sure. But what for, though?" Tavish asked.

"I got something new that will make everyone tougher and stronger," Emerald replied. "Just get a few Warhounds to come over and I'll explain further."

"Right, see ya later lass!" Tavish said as he began to run off.

"Who was he?" Twilight asked.

"That was Tavish Degroot," Emerald answered. "He was an Alpha from one of the independent packs deeper in the tunnels, then he decided to join us. He is a _really_ good fighter."

With that, the two continued on their way and arrived at a stone building that looked fairly new and still had freshly cut stone blocks and bricks lying around it. They entered the building and found themselves in a large lobby filled with wooden furnishings and wall paneling. Along one wall was a row of taps over a countertop, and placed on top of the counter were holders where small vials were sitting. There was a red light over the taps, and underneath the light was the word 'UNLOCKED'. Currently the light was off.

Emerald lead Twilight to a door off to the side and into the hall behind it. They followed the hall until they reached the massive room in the back. The room had a massive steel tank pressed against the wall, the same wall that had the taps on the other side. Emerald and Twilight walked up some metal stairs to a catwalk that was running along the rim of the tank. Once at the top, the contents of the tank were revealed to be water thanks to the open top.

Emerald walked over to the water's edge and held her hoof over the surface of the water. After a moment, a pinkish liquid dropped from Emerald's hoof and she stepped back. For a moment, nothing happened as the drop dissipated in the water, but soon the water's color began to change. Bubbles began to rise to the surface and foam began to form as the water underwent a high speed chemical change.

After a minute of bubbling and foaming, the water finally began to calm down as it turned opaque and light pink. Emerald walked over to the water's edge and dipped her hoof in the liquid, then brought it up to her mouth and licked it.

"Mm, fruit punch. Just like I intended." The virus smiled.

"Really?" Twilight said and approached the liquid to take a taste for herself.

"Ah…" Emerald quickly stopped Twilight's advance with a hoof. "It's probably best you don't take any of this stuff. It's designed to induce changes in the body of the drinker."

"Oh… are you going to get your dogs to drink it?" Twilight asked.

"Yep," Emerald answered as she began walking back down the stairs with Twilight right behind her. "This stuff will make it so they can build up muscle faster, grow stronger bones and stay energised longer, all at the cost of needing to have larger meals."

"Sounds like a pretty big change to their biology," Twilight commented.

"Not really." Emerald shook her head. "All I had to do was undo a few of the body's natural limiters and suppress the generation of a few chemicals and I was good to go."

"Really?"

"Yeah, the body naturally keeps itself from growing too strong or getting bones too thick," Emerald answered. "Really, strong muscles and thick bones need a lot of energy to make and upkeep, and to get that energy you need to eat and drink. Now, instincts work on the basis that you are in a wild environment and not a modern one. For an animal, the next meal isn't entirely guaranteed, but for you, you just have to walk down to the market when you want food. Your body doesn't know this and assumes the next meal is never a promise and keeps the body from developing too much. With this natural system in place, you don't have to eat a massive meal just to feel sated because you ended up getting a highly toned body just by moving around."

"But your dogs don't need that system in place anymore because you have a grove of meat trees giving them a constant supply of food," Twilight stated.

"Yep, thus getting rid of an old, obsolete system." Emerald nodded and then gave a little laugh. "Back on Earth, this kind of thing would likely get picketed by people who would complain about it being extremely unnatural."

"What?" Twilight blinked. "Well yes, it's unnatural because you are using artificial means to undo it, but why would anypony not want something like this? It would make staying in shape extremely easy."

"Some people believe the body is already perfect and changing it in any way is stomping the sacredness of it, or some garbage along those lines." Emerald shrugged. "Whatever. If people don't want to be made better, then that is their choice, but it gets infuriating when they make that choice for _everyone_."

The two soon arrived back in the lobby with Emerald locking the door behind them. It had been only a few minutes, but there was already over a dozen Warhounds in the room awaiting whatever it was Emerald was going to give them.

The viral unicorn turned towards the wall with the taps and her horn began to glow. She reached for the special locking mechanism within the wall and undid it. With that action, the red light suddenly turned on.

"One of you come over here," Emerald called out as she walked over to stand next to the taps.

The biggest Warhound in the group stepped forward; it was Padfoot. Padfoot walked over to Emerald and looked at her wonderingly. Emerald quickly shifted into her human form, causing Navi to briefly lift off before settling atop her head, and reached over to the vials. She grabbed one and put it under the tap and opened it. The vial quickly filled up with the pink liquid and Emerald turned off the tap before holding it out to Padfoot.

"This will help you get even bigger, tougher and stronger, Padfoot," Emerald said and stepped right next to Padfoot and placed her hand on his shoulder, viral tendrils piercing and numbing as they invaded his body. "All you have to do is drink this."

"Right boss," Padfoot said, not noticing the tendrils, as he took the vial from Emerald and downed it quickly.

Emerald carefully observed Padfoot on the cellular level, making sure the serum she designed wasn't doing anything it wasn't supposed to. The serum seemed to be working as it should though, suppressing chemicals, removing natural development limiters. Eventually, the final augment was put in place and Padfoot was not worse for wear.

"Tingly," the large Rottweiler commented with a shake of his head.

"And it's working as it should," Emerald said with a pat on Padfoot's back before turning towards the other dogs.

"What this serum does, exactly, is allow you to grow muscles easily, grow denser bones and not get tired very easily," Emerald explained to the to the others. "And the cost for these improvement is practically meaningless. In order to fully enjoy these augmentations, you have to eat larger meals. Not exactly a bad thing, now isn't it? Now, for the time being, only you lot will have these augments. I want to see how effectively they work on you before giving it to everyone else."

Another dog entered the building, but he was neither a Warhound or one of her own dogs. It was the old dog that she had healed and restored his limbs, Fenrir.

"Hello there." Emerald greeted. "I remember you from the event with Nidhogg's skeleton. What brings you to the Enclave?"

"I have come seeking a way to repay my debt," Fenrir stated. "At first, I thought the best way I can go about this is providing advice and offering my experience. But from what I've heard just now, there may be another way for me to repay my debt; a better way."

"Your 'serum' allows dogs to get strong and tough easily," Fenrir continued. "Surely that will allow an old dog like myself to retain some of my prime and help you more actively."

"Well…" Emerald began as she walked over and began circling Fenrir. At first, the virus thought the dog's advanced age would interfere with the augments taking hold properly, adding to the fact that his age might cause complications when bone and muscle began to develop in earnest. But Emerald then had an idea. It was a bit on the ambitious side, but it should work… in theory.

"Hmm, your age might get in the way of proper muscle and bone development," Emerald stated and quickly interrupted when Fenrir was about to protest. "BUT… I may have an idea of how to keep that from being an issue. I can try something, but I want you to know it's only theoretical and I've never done any tests to see if it would work in any fashion."

"I am willing to bear the risks," Fenrir said determinedly. "If it means that I am no longer this useless bag of bones and sagging hide, that I can regain my prime in some way, then I will take any risk. I would do anything to be strong again."

'_I would do anything to be strong…' _Emerald mentally repeated with a frown, reminded of the time she first met Alex Mercer and was given the offer to be made an Evolved. _'Well this will be different for him. Unlike Mercer, I don't intend to take advantage of his desperation.'_

"I will do everything in my power to make sure nothing goes wrong," Emerald promised and got a nod from Fenrir. The virus then turned towards the Warhounds. "The rest of you take a drink from the fountains. Once you are done, there is a switch under the counter. It will lock the taps. DO NOT forget to get it before you leave, got it? Good."

"Twilight, come here, we are going to teleport," Emerald said as she gestured for the unicorn to come.

At the unicorn's approach, Fenrir's expression became distinctly disdainful, but quickly cleared up before Emerald could notice. Clearly this pony was someone close to Emerald, and Fenrir didn't want to ruin his chances of being strong again by alienating her.

When Twilight and Fenrir came close, Emerald teleport the three of them away to a different location in the Hub. The three arrived an instant later in the lab Emerald constructed for herself. Emerald then walked over to one of her tables and quickly moved everything off it via magic. Once the table was clear, she quickly transfigured it into a comfortable operating table.

"Alright, just lay down on here and I'll get to work," Emerald said, patting the table top.

"What happens now?" Fenrir asked once he was laying on the soft table.

"Well, I am going to put you to sleep for the next part," Emerald answered. "Otherwise this will be a distressing experience, even for you."

"Alright… I am ready," Fenrir said after taking a deep breath.

"Once you wake up, you'll notice a world of difference," Emerald stated and placed her hand on the old dog's shoulder. Small tendrils pierced his hide and quickly released numbing chemicals, canceling out the pain before he even felt it. Once the tendrils reached a cluster of major arteries, they released chemical into the bloodstream. Within moments, Fenrir was sound asleep and would remain that way for twenty four hours unless Emerald reversed the condition.

Off to the side, Twilight watched on in open curiosity as Emerald set to work on the old dog, though to her it only looked like she was just placing her hands on him.

The virus had a lot of work ahead of her. This body was old and the cells were at half efficiency most of the time. She would have to completely "renovate" everything in order for the real work to commence, namely allowing future augmentation. Taking a sample of his genetic code, Emerald began making "rough" copies of what the old dog's cells would have looked like in his prime. She let loose her virus on a controlled wave of destruction and let loose another wave of viruses following the first. The first wave simply destroyed the cells and left a nutrient paste behind in its place. The second wave quickly took in the paste and replaced the empty space with a new and young cell. The average body essentially builds itself a new body on a cellular level within a month; Emerald was doing the same thing, but instead of simply replacing the cells with copies of the current ones, she used younger versions.

Twilight gasped aloud as she saw visible changes take place. The skin on Fenrir's body began to tighten and the visibly loose folds pulled back into the body. The old dog's fur started changing color, but instead of growing darker the gray fur became lighter, only stopping once it was white as snow. As the dog de-aged before her eyes, his breed became discernable. Before, he was simply so old that exactly what kind of dog breed wasn't exactly a certainty. Now it became increasingly clear he was a husky like Bluno, maybe even a wolf.

After a few moments, Emerald was nearly done with Fenrir's body. She considered healing his mind as well, but decided not to because she didn't entirely know how to preserve his memories in the cells. Although a brief study of Fenrir's mind revealed it was just as sharp and strong as a younger dog's, stating clearly that the old dog had been keeping his mind in shape in place of his body. After some more minor work, Emerald stepped back to observe the result of her labours.

Fenrir was definitely some sort of wolf Diamond Dog, and a tall one at that, maybe even tall enough to rival Padfoot in size. His fur being white as snow was definitely an attention grabber. Emerald had no doubts people would be able to spot him coming from just how stark white he was. Stepping in close, Emerald briefly injected a tendril into Fenrir and released an awakening chemical.

"Rrgh." Fenrir groaned and sat up, rubbing his eyes. He opened his eyes and took in his arms and how much fuller they were. He was as surprised as Emerald expected him to be, but there was also an odd amount of confusion there as well.

"You made me young again, that much is obvious," Fenrir said gruffly. "But why did you make my fur white?"

"Ah…" Emerald had made a mistake when making younger cells, since clearly white wasn't Fenrir's natural color. "Sorry, I can fix that if you want?"

"No, it's not an issue," Fenrir said as he got off the table, first steps a little shaky but quickly got better. "Gray was also a sad color anyways, never did like it. At least I don't have to put up with the nickname anymore."

"Great. The exit is just through that door and up the stairs, can't miss it," Emerald said with a gesture. "You should be able to find your way to the Orion building again easily enough. I'll meet you there in a few minutes. I just have a few things to do here just yet."

"Right and thank you… young Principem," Fenrir said gratefully before moving towards the door.

Emerald watched him leave with a surprised look, reminded of the title the elders in the Enclave keep calling her by. Shaking her head, she then turned towards Twilight who was regarding her with wide, excited eyes.

"So what did you think?" Emerald asked with a smile.

"Oh my gosh, Emerald!" Twilight exclaimed. She knew Emerald could manipulate things on the cellular level, but she never knew just how far she could go with it. "You just made someone young again! There is a spell for that, but only the most powerful of unicorns are even capable of it! And if you can reverse age, then you can reverse terrible ailments as well, things that ponies would normally not be cured of or just have to live with. We have to go to the hospital in Canterlot right away!"

At first, Emerald was smiling at the praise she was receiving from Twilight. Until she started talking about healing other people. Then she was frowning.

"I can't do that, Twilight," Emerald replied.

"What?! Why not?" Twilight asked in confusion. "You said it yourself. You want to be a better person. Emerald, doing this, saving ponies, healing them of incurable diseases and even curing old age itself. That would do so much good and no matter what anyone would agree on that!"

"I can't just walk into a hospital blasé as can be, healing ponies left and right!" Emerald argued. "For one, how would I even explain that? That I just on the spot without any research whatsoever invented a fix everything spell? Sure people would be grateful, but do you know just how suspicious that sounds?"

"Well… you have a reputation as a prodigy, right?" Twilight replied. "I'm sure ponies will be willing to accept that."

"Okay MAYBE that flies, but what then?" Emerald asked with a frown. "I don't own labs or research equipment or even have falsified documents that say I do. We can't use the shiny new equipment in your basement either. As great as they are, they just aren't on the same level the various magical laboratories use. Oh! And there is the fact I could get in trouble for using an untested medical spell without heavily documented and recorded testing, on top of everything else."

"Emerald, I…" Twilight began and then sighed in resignation. "I was just trying to help you be a good person like you said you were trying to be… and this was such a great way to do that…"

Emerald's frown immediately became sad and she felt a little ashamed of herself.

"Well… I really can't just walk in and heal ponies, in the OPEN," Emerald said after a moment. "But say we… save only those that wouldn't be saved otherwise? Heal ponies that would have to put with complications their whole life. And do all this during the night. Would that be good?"

"Yeah, that would be great, Emerald." Twilight smiled gratefully at the virus and gave her a hug. "It isn't the healing everyone and reversing old age, but it'll do."

Inwardly, Emerald sighed and started thinking up plans and ways to organise "miracles" in various hospitals around Equestria.

**GAMMA**

Emerald stepped off the train onto the Canterlot train platform with a worried frown, Navi buzzing about her head.

She was returning to Canterlot for her week long study trip with Luna, but felt bad for leaving Twilight to deal with the attention back in Ponyville by herself. The Evolved had to remind herself that Twilight wasn't completely alone and at least had Rarity on her side if not everyone else for some stupid reason.

Traveling through the station and to the streets of Canterlot, Emerald had to accept one fact: rumors really did travel at the speed of light. EVERYONE in Canterlot had apparently heard about her relationship with Twilight, considering all the staring and whispering that was going on. Deciding that she wasn't going to put up with this sort of attention all the way to the palace, Emerald called Navi to her and quickly charged up a teleport and arrived in the palace lobby an instant later.

"GAH!" shouted a startled royal guard. "Oh, miss Gleaner! Good day to you!"

Emerald turned towards the guards in the lobby and saw that, like the ponies on the streets, they were staring as well. Unlike the ponies, however, they were quick to return to their guarding positions and blank expressions, though Emerald could see a deathly curious look in their collective eyes.

"Hello, I'm here to return to my studies," Emerald said as her pet stuck her little face out of her mane.

"We were expecting you, miss," the guard said and briefly looked her over. "No luggage?"

"I travel light," Emerald answered simply.

"Very well. Follow me I shall lead you to the princess," the guard said and turned about towards a hall.

Emerald took in her surroundings as she moved. The lobby wasn't very close to the hall where the fight with Discord started, so it wasn't nearly as damaged. It still was damaged, however, as the boarded up windows and a few cracks in the ceiling attested to.

They traveled down the halls, each of the windows either boarded over or heavily cracked, but still somehow in one piece. The signs of structural damage decreased as they got further away from the start of the battle, but remained constant in some form.

As they walked through an intersection, Emerald happened to glance down a hall and managed to see one of the Deinos. She was a mare with scale wings like the Podargos instead of blade wings like her own. She had a blood red coat with dirty blonde hair; her bioluminescence looked very much like some sort of terrible disease that caused throbbing, glowing rents in her flesh and crisscrossed her body like stripes, marring her cutie mark terribly and marking extremely hard to make it out. She also had a mouth so full of razor sharp teeth she couldn't even close her mouth all the way and was baring them at the world in a perpetual grimace.

The Deinos was peacefully looking out a heavily cracked window when she seemed to sense Emerald staring at her and quickly snapped her head in Emerald's direction. She and Emerald stared at each other for a moment as the guard continued forward, thinking Emerald was still following.

After a moment, Emerald began walking forward and approached the Deinos. The infected mare widened her eyes in surprise and her perpetual grimace twisted slightly into a smile. Emerald came to a stop before the Deinos and took in her form for a moment and was just about to speak when the mare beat her to it.

"You are Enerald, right?" the mare said with deep sniff. "I have never seen you,' ut I've snelt your scent efore."

"Yes, I am Emerald," the virus replied. She wondered at the mare's way of speaking, but could see the reason for it very clearly; her teeth kept her lips from touching and thus certain sounds were now beyond her. "You know, I've never seen Deinos other than Razor Wind my entire stay last time."

"Razor Wing didn't want us to 'other you," the Deinos said with another sniff. "I wondered the reason why he would say that, 'ut now I fully understand. Now that I an closer, your scent is… cativating."

"Oh…" Emerald was used to the infected ponies acting a certain way towards her, but the way this one was acting… it was off putting to say the least.

"I've heard rumors from the staff that you like nares?" the Deinos stated and started circling Emerald like a shark, her gaze making the viral unicorn all too aware of the fact she wasn't wearing clothes. "Hnnn… a most curious and unheard of development. I wonder… will you seek ne out should it not work out with your… _fillyfriend_?"

"Uhhh…" Emerald began a little unsurely. "Maybe… no promises."

"No pronises…" the mare accepted with a nod.

"Uh, can I get your name?" Emerald asked.

"I am Shar Skies," Sharp answered before disappearing with a blinding teleport and bang.

Emerald stared at the spot where the Deinos was for a moment, not sure how to feel about the fact she got an offer to be her rebound girl.

"Miss Gleaner?" Emerald heard and turned around to see the guard she was following. "I see you've just met one of our resident Deinos. I hope she didn't startle you or anything."

"Umm… no, I am fine," Emerald said with a shake of her head. "Let's continue on our way to the princess."

"Right this way, miss."

There were no more delays after that, and Emerald was lead straight to the room Princess Luna was awaiting her in. After bidding the guard thanks and goodbye, Emerald walked through the double doors and into the study.

The lessons with Luna she had experience so far had been always serious at first, but then Luna's excitement of finally having a student would bleed through and the lessons ended up feeling much more casual and friendly. However, Luna's demeanor this time as she stood in the middle of the room was unquestionably imperious as she stared down at Emerald, her head held up in an almost imperially haughty manner.

'_Err… what's with the look?'_ Emerald thought in concern. _'Is she disapproving of me and Twilight? I sure as hell hope not. Princess or not, I am not about to put up with it.'_

"Young Emerald, I am most disappointed in you," Luna stated, seemingly confirming Emerald's concerns. "I expected more out of a student of mine than to place such vulgar looking pictures for all to see."

"Umm, what exactly are you referring to?" Emerald asked in some confusion, not sure what Luna was talking about now.

"The pose in this picture, one among many," Luna answered, presenting a magazine open to a page that had Emerald in a suggestive pose with a wrench.

"Oh…" Emerald was incredibly relieved. Had Luna been talking about her and Twilight, then she would have been forced to choose between the two; a choice that wasn't at all hard in Emerald's eyes. But now that she knew, she didn't have to make that choice. She was happy. Happy enough to feel playful, even. "What exactly are you referring to in the picture, your highness?"

"Th-the pose!" Luna stated, blushing at the idea of explaining why exactly the pose was inappropriate. But Emerald's face was the picture of childlike innocence as she stared up at her with wide eyes, making the Lunar Princess believe she was in the wrong to think Emerald knew what she was doing when she made that pose.

"Yes, but… what about the pose, exactly?" Emerald asked with faux curiosity.

"W-well… the way you are lying on your side for one…" Luna began hesitantly, hoping for any sign of realization in Emerald's expression so that she didn't have to explain her reasons further, but the visage of innocence remained firmly in place. "And umm… the way your eyes look, hooded as they are, imply a closeness like… like a… pony special to you and… the wrench implies you are about to… to… to… nevermind."

"Oooookay?" Emerald said with over dramatized befuddlement.

"Well… I wish to ask you about something else before we began our practical lessons," Luna said. "I wish to question you about your relationship with my sister's student, one Twilight Sparkle."

"Oh, alright then," Emerald said with utmost seriousness. "What do you wish to know, your highness?"

"How is it that you find yourself attracted to another mare?" Luna asked in honest curiosity. "It is not possible for the two of you to have children, although I admit there are more than a few unions that don't result in children. Still, the question remains. Why are you a 'couple' with Twilight Sparkle?"

"She… is a hero," Emerald answered and smiled softly as she thought about Twilight. "I was a paranoid mess when I met her, always expecting the worst of everyone I met, always on guard for the pain of betrayal. But the day I met her changed me for the better… I was on a downward spiral for years and she stopped my descent. I never intended for our friendship to become something more… it just happened. But I do not regret it and would fight to preserve it."

Luna smiled down at her student, but now wondered about he. She knew about Twilight and her friends' theory of Emerald being a former gladiator slave. Emerald alluded to a highly troubled past and the gladiator idea did seem to fit, but it wasn't entirely a certainty if it was the truth. But the princess wasn't comfortable with the idea of pressing her student for the story of her past, being as she only just started teaching her two weeks ago.

"Well I think we've put off lessons for long enough," Luna stated and quickly took on an easy going stance. "Today's lesson is the manipulation of gravity. Now, every unicorn knows the levitation spell, but what you will learn will be much more…"

**DELTA**

'_The phoenix is an iconic creature,' _Emerald read. _'It represents life and fire, and although it puts up the surprisingly realistic image of flesh and blood at times, it truly is a being of fire. Readers may recognise the creature in question, as her highness Princess Celestia possesses one as a pet. When this fire bird was discovered is not completely known and many, many myths, legends and folklore speak of their origins and all share one fact. They tell of the phoenix's origins leading back to one being of unrestrained fire and life. A mighty phoenix said to be as bright as the sun itself.'_

Emerald looked over on to the neighbouring page and saw a stylised picture of a massive phoenix spreading its wings out as it roosted atop a mountain.

'_Hmm…' _Emerald thought as she quickly looked over the other pages in the book. _'Seems like the rest is a collection of all those various myths and legends about phoenixes. Knowing the way this world works, I bet each and every one of them is right in some way.'_

Hearing someone walking past, Emerald glanced towards the open door of the study she was in and spotted Celestia walking by, Rarity following close behind. Instantly curious about why Rarity was in Canterlot, Emerald put her book down and quickly walked out of the study and nearly run into the bellhop carrying a massive load of luggage.

"Excuse me," Emerald said as she moved past.

"No p-problem," the overloaded bellhop groaned.

"Rarity!" Emerald called out as she neared the other unicorn.

"Emerald dear!" Rarity exclaimed happily and trotted over to Emerald and gave her a tight hug. "How are you doing? I hope ponies aren't bothering you over Twilight."

"I'm doing fine, Rarity. It'll take more than a bit of staring to bother me," Emerald answered. "I'm more worried about Twilight, though. How is she? Is she holding up well?"

"She is doing fine, darling," Rarity reassured with a smile. "The others are supporting her and standing up for her, and the others in Ponyville are starting to accept what is going between the two of you. It's just taking a bit of time."

"It' great to know that," Emerald said.

"I have to admit, I myself needed a night's sleep before wrapping my mind around the concept of two mares in a relationship," Celestia admitted. "Might I ask how you and my student came to be together?"

"Well, really your highness, your student is just a wonderful mare," Emerald answered with a small smile. "As I explained to Luna, when I met Twilight I was in such a bad downward spiral, I don't like to think where I'd be right now if I hadn't met here when I did. But now that we are together, I never want to lose her. I just…"

"Ohhhh… Emerald, if I was even the least bit doubtful of the two of you before, I definitely am not now." Rarity sighed happily at Emerald's honest outpouring of emotion. "She must mean the world to you."

"Yes, she does," Emerald replied a little shyly.

Celestia could only smile at Emerald's words. She had a feeling that things would work out between her student and Emerald, despite what troubles may plague them. However, the princess couldn't help but wonder at the meaning of some of Emerald's words. She made it sound like meeting Twilight kept her from doing something terrible, but what could she have meant? Did she mean she was a hair's breadth away from a life of crime? The thought of someone as skilled a fighter, who possessed such immense prodigal potential falling into a life of crime honestly made the princess' mood take a sudden downturn. There was no doubt in her mind that had Emerald become a criminal, she would have been picked up by the Gray Fox at some point. The havoc the two would have unleashed upon Equestria would undoubtedly live on in infamy for generations. It could even have been a stained glass window worthy chapter in Equestria's history.

Celestia shook her head clear of the distasteful thoughts. Emerald was most definitely not going to be a criminal now, that was for certain, and she never would be with Twilight at her side. With that, the princess returned her attention to the other two people in the hall; three if you counted the beleaguered bellhop.

"Her highness is letting me stay at the palace for a few days!" Rarity said excitedly to Emerald. "I plan to be going all over Canterlot and taking in the wondrous sights. Won't you come along with me? It would be just the best treat to have you along, darling."

"I'd love to Rarity, but I'm here studying under Princess Luna," Emerald replied a bit sadly. "I'm kept a bit busy. I was just enjoying the little free time she lets me have. Though it's not like her lessons are all work and no play. There is a lot of fun in the practical lessons and the princess isn't above _playful_ demonstrations."

"Oh my, it sounds like you are enjoying being taught by Princess Luna," Rarity said with a bright smile. "And to think you were hesitant on becoming her student!"

'_Enjoying having a student, my dear Luna?' _Celestia thought with a warm smile. _'I do so enjoy it as well… I miss the hooves on lessons I'd have with Twilight now. She is making wonderful progress on her own lessons as well. It seems like I only have a decade or so left before she finishes her lessons with me and I am left without a student again… I really should spend more time with her; I just wish I wasn't so busy all the time.'_

"Uhh! UGH! GRRRAGH!"

Everyone turned at the sound of a massive crash and was met with the sight of the bellhop buried under Rarity's vast amount of language.

"Ah… perhaps we should get my things to my room before speaking more?" Rarity asked a little sheepishly.

**EPSILON**

Emerald stared down at the letter in her hooves, Navi in her mane sleeping the day away in boredom as Emerald studied in her room.

Like she had said to Rarity a few days ago, she was very busy and couldn't tag along with her on her trips. However, Twilight's birthday was that very day and Emerald wasn't going to miss it for the world, especially with all the work she put in for Twilight's gift. But Twilight had sent her a letter stating that Rarity wasn't going to be able to come back in time for the party because her cat was sick, so they were moving the party there.

On one hand, Emerald was glad she didn't have to convince Luna to let her off for the whole day, even though she was fairly certain Luna would ago in no uncertain terms to letting her attend Twilight's birthday. On the other hand, she was fairly certain Rarity hadn't looked all that stressed out the last time she had seen her, which she would have been had her cat been sick enough to forgo travel. So what exactly was up with Rarity?

'_On second thought, I am rather paranoid, aren't I?' _Emerald thought with a wry grin. _'Opalescence likely has like a tiny cough or something and Rarity is blowing it way out of proportion. In either case, Twilight is moving the party here so I only have to take the afternoon off from my studies. It's about time I get to wrapping my gift for Twilight.'_

Emerald made her way over to the table at the side of her bed and opened the drawer. Inside was a big, thick book with a dark green velvet coat. Stamped over the front was a silver plate with the title engraved on it that read "Obscure Science". It was a blank book that Emerald had bought and had proceeded to fill completely front to back with information; it even had illustrations she had drawn herself.

The virus had worked on it tirelessly every night for the past week, just filling page after page with scientific knowledge from her world that currently didn't exist in Equestria. Emerald was nearly absolutely certain Twilight would love this gift, and that fact alone would be more than worth the effort she had put in to make the book.

'_Now just have to wrap it up for her!' _Emerald thought and quickly took out a roll plain pink wrapping paper along with white ribbon. Twenty minutes of struggling later and Emerald managed to get it looking like a commercial set piece present like she wanted.

'_Right, now just have to go see Luna and tell her about my plans for today. Then I just do my lessons until everything is set up tonight,' _Emerald thought.

Leaving the present on her bed, she left the room, locking the door behind her.

**ZETA**

It was later that day and the sun had gone down. Emerald had been informed by one of the Thracian maids that Twilight's party had finished being set up in one of the ballrooms. She was now on her way to said party.

With Navi perched on one ear and the present being magically held to her side, the virus opened the large pair of double doors before her.

"Emerald!" the virus heard a happy shout.

"Hi Twilight." Emerald smiled. The inside of the ballroom had been decorated for Twilight's birthday party. There were streamers criss-crossing everywhere along with balloons; there was already a ton of confetti covering the floor, likely the cause being an overly excited Pinkie Pie. One table was covered in various cakes and cupcakes while another table had a small pile of gifts on it. Everyone was there as well, though Rarity seemed rather oddly overdressed and Twilight seemed to be wearing one of her gifts.

"So great you could make it!" Twilight said happily as she trotted over to Emerald in her simple yellow dress with a pink sash.

"I'd never miss it," Emerald replied. "Luna's not the type to make me miss this anyway. Also, here is my present to you."

"Oh!" Twilight said and magically took the gift away from Emerald. "It looks like it might be a book. Thank you Emerald, I'm certain it will be a wonderful read."

"It should!" Emerald stated with a grin. "I wrote it myself."

"You wrote…" Twilight looked down at her gift with impatient excitement and quickly tore it open.

"You gave her a book you wrote yourself?" Dash stated questioningly before rolling her eyes with a smirk. "You can be such an egg head sometimes Emmy."

"Oh my gosh, Emerald!" Twilight exclaimed as she started skimming through her new book. "You wrote all this and made all these illustrations just for me?"

"I certainly did." Emerald smiled. "Took constant work nearly every night of the past week, but I finished it."

"Thank you so much Emerald!" Twilight said happily. "It's a wonderful gift!"

"Yeah, way to show us up," Rainbow said with a playful jab of her elbow.

Suddenly Twilight grew extremely shy, and her face turned a little crimson before she started approaching Emerald. The Evolved watched her curiously as she came to a stop before her and had to crush down an amused smile when Twilight closed her eyes and started leaning in close.

Twilight's face seemed to grow steadily redder as she inched closer towards Emerald and after a moment she finally kissed Emerald… on the cheek. Then she looked away bashfully and looked for all the world like a purple Fluttershy.

"Gee Twilight, it's just a kiss on the cheek," Emerald said with a smile. "You don't have to get all worked up over it. It's not like we were French kissing."

"Umm… what's 'French kissing'"? Twilight asked a little hesitantly, remembering how she regretted finding out what a prostitute was.

"Well, it's basically like a normal kiss," Emerald began, full well knowing the next part was going to embarrass her. "Except we both open our mouths a little as we kiss and slip our tongues into each other's mouth."

"Oh my gosh!" Twilight exclaimed, her face completely flush.

"Heh heh." Emerald smiled at her so easily frazzled "fillyfriend" and suddenly noticed the others. They were now only a few feet away and were standing together; they were wide eyed with blushing faces and were staring almost expectedly, almost as if they were expecting Emerald to just suddenly give Twilight a very in-depth example of a french kiss. Emerald rolled her eyes at them.

"What? Are you all expecting a show or something?" Emerald asked.

"Yes," Pinkie said.

"No!" the others quickly denied and shot the party mare a look.

"What?" Pinkie said in honest confusion.

Emerald just shook her head a little and turned her head back towards Twilight. She blinked when she saw that Twilight was standing a little closer and had her eyes closed as her mouth hung a little open, her face almost as red as a cherry.

"Twilight…" Emerald sighed and gave her a small pat on the nose with her hoof. "You don't have to force yourself into stuff like this. Just one step after another. Slow and steady, but most importantly, as you are ready for them."

"R-right, sorry… that was silly of me," Twilight said in embarrassment.

"It's alright, Twilight," Emerald said as she stepped beside the other unicorn and gave her a comforting hug. "This is a learning experience for the both of us, okay?"

"Yes, you're right, Emerald," Twilight said with a smile.

"Great. Now, who's up for some cake?" Emerald asked. "Because I certainly am!"

"Oh me, me, me!" Pinkie shouted as she hopped in place excitedly before darting over to the cake table. "I'll start slicing pieces for everypony!"

The party proceeded fairly well after that, and Twilight quickly got over her earlier embarrassment as she opened the presents from the others. However, while everyone was having fun, Emerald noticed something strange. Rarity disappeared suddenly for a short while before slipping in from a side door of the ball room.

Wondering what exactly had gained Rarity's attention outside, Emerald watched and waited until she left again before following right after her. She easily managed to keep from being noticed by both Rarity and the others and found where the other unicorn had been going. There was apparently a high class garden party happening right outside in the garden.

Quickly shifting her stance into one of total and complete confidence and pride, Emerald strode right into the heart of the party. Not a single noble gave her a second glance, though more than a few seemed to briefly look like they recalled her.

Rarity came to a stop and looked around the party, seemingly looking for someone. Emerald came to a stop right beside her as she was looking in the opposite direction.

"I take it that you are looking for someone?"

"Oh my goodness!" Rarity gasped and her eyes widened in alarm when she saw Emerald standing right beside her. "Emerald! I was just… taking a look see, and I…"

Rarity's attempts to make an excuse died off as Emerald just stared her down. It was then that the nobles in the party started to notice and recognise her.

"Oh my, miss Gleaner, have you come to 'crash' our festivity?" a passing noble asked, not sounding the least offended by the idea. "Always room for celebrities, I always say!"

"Yes, please enjoy your time here," the noble's lady companion added with a polite smile before the two went on their way.

Emerald took stock of her surroundings. She had expected several nobles to immediately come swarm her to speak with her. The Evolved was a famed model and owned quite a bit of money making real estate after all. But other than a few of the nearest giving her some light greetings, they didn't try. Some were even moving away with varying degrees of subtlety.

'_Likely has to do with my relationship with Twilight,' _Emerald thought with an internal frown. _'It has a chance to stir up some controversy and they don't want to be connected with bad press. Still, this isn't as bad it could be on Earth. I hardly think the __**controversy **__a pony would stir up over me and Twilight would be in any way crippling anyway. I doubt I'd even get any hate over it; just honest confusion.'_

About that time was when one of the nobles approached her and didn't seem like he was just going to polite greet her and leave.

"Good evening, miss Gleaner," he welcomed with a polite smile. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Fancy Pants, and I am most pleased to make your acquaintance."

"Oh, I am pleased to meet you as well," Emerald replied. "Forgive me, shall I refer to you as Lord or Mister? I've meet nobles before, and they don't seem to be very consistent on the matter."

"You may call me Fancy Pants, miss Gleaner," Fancy replied. "I must confess an admiration for you, my dear. A young up and coming unicorn rising above her troubles and lack of education is a most inspiring feat. I have no doubts you'll be motivating generations both present and future with your achievements."

"Thank you kindly Fancy Pants, but a good number of my accomplishments can be attributed to luck," Emerald replied. "I'd likely only have finished catching up on my education right now if I hadn't had the luck of meeting Photo Finish."

"And modest as well!" Fancy smiled. "Knowing to restrain an ego is a most laudable ability and will get you far. In any case, allow me to explain the reason why I came to speak with you. You see, my wife Fleur is a fan of yours and happens to be a model as well."

"Fleur… as in Fleur De Lis?" Emerald asked.

"The very same," Fancy answered. "You see, she wishes to set up a dinner date of sorts with you and has been meaning to send you letter requesting it, though she has been a bit busy."

"Hmm… Didn't she start modeling for another company competing with New Paradigm?"

"Oh yes, she was inspired by you really, and decided to help boost the economy by getting a flagging company some positive attention," Fancy Pants said. "I realise you are a majority shareholder in New Paradigm, so I do hope this isn't an issue for you?"

"Of course not," Emerald answered with a shake of her head. "The market is quite… _open_ for growth right now, and competition is always good for the consumer, now isn't it? And as for the dinner date, I'd be glad to attend, though I am quite a bit busy; studying with Princess Luna, modeling for New Paradigm and personal projects are keeping me quite engaged, I'm afraid."

"Not an issue at all!" Fancy replied. "Fleur will exchange a few letters with you and set up an appropriate date. We'll have dinner aboard the Cloud Nine. Of course, it goes without saying you may bring a date as well."

"Oh… well I most certainly shall look forward to Fleur De Lis' letter." Emerald was a bit surprised. Fancy Pants definitely seemed like the sort of noble to always know what was going on and so would certainly know about her and Twilight. Maybe he was just a kind person despite the games a noble would have to play in order to advance in the world of business and politics, not that it was as cutthroat as it could have been, ponies being ponies after all.

"I look forward to it as well. Oh, and I apologise Rarity. I didn't mean to ignore you for so long," Fancy Pants said to the other unicorn.

"Oh umm… it's not an issue at all!" Rarity replied, shooting a worried glance at Emerald. "I was just, umm…"

"Well I have somewhere else to be," Emerald stated in the odd lull in the conversation. "If you excuse me, Fancy Pants, Rarity, I'll be sure to tell Twilight where you are."

Barely a few steps away and the virus was already being chased down by Rarity.

"Darling, wait!" Rarity shouted then quickly quieted down when she noticed the looks she was getting. "I was… ohhhh… I take it you know about Opal being sick, right? Well… I lied about that. You see, I had… _enhanced_ the truth while speaking with some of these high class ponies and ended up being rather popular for it. I just… couldn't bear to abandon that popularity when I had the opportunity to attend this party."

"Even if it meant not attending your best friend's birthday party?" Emerald asked quietly and Rarity looked away, knowing very well it looked rather bad. "This reminds me of the gala we all attended several months ago. Spike wanted to show you all around the place that had been his home for most of his life and you all snubbed him for your own desires. I went with him to be a good friend and ended up having a wonderful time while the rest of you ended up having a horrible night. I could have went off on my own too, but I saw the gala for what it was; a big networking event to make business deals and just a place to be seen in. I could have taken the opportunity to create business for my own company, but I didn't. I decided to be a friend and went with Spike. Do you understand what I am getting at, Rarity?"

"I… I know Emerald…" Rarity said dejectedly. "Oh I must be a horrible friend…"

"If you were a horrible friend, you wouldn't have supported me and Twilight so easily, Rarity," Emerald assured. "You just made a mistake is all. Everypony does it."

"Thank you darling," Rarity smiled softly before turning around to face Fancy Pants who was staring after them curiously. "Good sir, I must apologise but I have to take my leave now. A rather important event has come up and I just CAN'T afford to miss it."

"Oh it's no trouble at all." Fancy smiled. "It was good fun to have you here while you were able."

"Thank you again, sir," Rarity said before quickly following after Emerald.

The two went on their way back to Twilight's party, but once they were out of earshot of the nobles, Rarity spoke up.

"Oh my reputation is just going to be torn to shreds once everypony knows I lied," Rarity sighed.

"Rarity, I don't even need to know what exactly you lied about to tell you that you will be fine," Emerald replied. "Popularity is a fickle thing. Unless you come back here all the time and involve yourself in more of these public events, the nobility will soon forget about you. Even if somepony finds out about your lie a month from now, no one will care because it will be old news and you won't be relevant anymore."

"Well there's that at least," Rarity said with a deadpan look at the thought of being forgotten so easily.

Soon the two arrived at the side entrance they had taken to leave Twilight party and re-entered the ballroom.

"So what's it like to kiss a filly?" Dash asked curiously as she hovered overhead.

"Uh…" Twilight didn't really know how to answer the question because she had only ever kissed Emerald and hadn't gotten close to a colt enough to be friends, let alone kiss. "S-soft?"

"Oh my goodness!" Fluttershy gasped like Twilight said something scandalous.

"R-really?" Dash asked with a red face.

"Uhh… yeah?" Twilight said bashfully. "… Emerald is, anyway."

"Seems like everyone was too busy with girl talk to notice we were gone," Emerald commented.

"Fantastic, let's just slip right back in and enjoy the rest of the party," Rarity said happily.

The two closed the doors behind them and rejoined Twilight's birthday party.

**ETA**

Emerald stood in her human form and was taking in her surroundings.

She was in a massive chamber, big enough to easily hold a ten story building with quite a bit of space to spare. Large industrial lights lined the ceiling while the walls of the chamber were lined with thick steel plating. Higher up, a series of catwalks hung in the air from steel cables anchored to the ceiling. And this room was only one of four.

'_Several months of hard work.' _Emerald smiled. _'And it all came out wonderfully. The steel testing cages are now finished and ready for the advanced stages of the project. When I eventually get there that is. Still need to get through a few stages before I can even get into the testing stage. But once it finally happens, it'll be over a year's worth of work coming to culmination.'_

Emerald turned around and made for one of the heavily armored doors along the floor level.

'_Speaking of stages, I still need to make a decision on just what kind of creature I intend to make.' _Emerald frowned in thought. _'I could try to make something self-aware… but should I? I mean, so far I've only created plants and a specially designed virus. Even the simplest of animals would be tons more complicated than that. Hmm… okay, let's try a really clever dog with a lot of adaptability. I've never made something so complicated before, so the process might be a bit… buggy. But what else should it have? Well, it's definitely going to be a shock creature like the brawlers were, but better. Unlike Mercer, I don't intend to treat these guys like fodder to send into the grinder until they clog it. And I have the __**perfect**__ idea for how to make them look and sound!'_

With an eager smile, Emerald reached the armored door and walked through.

**THETA**

Twilight watched carefully as the sun finally set beyond the horizon and only the warm colors of dusk marked it's departure. Once all signs of the sun were completely gone, she looked down at the list she was levitating.

The unicorn was outside, just down the street from her home. Her books on dating and romance arrived a few days ago and she spent all her free time studying those. It was this very day that she had realised it had been well over a week since she and Emerald became a couple, and yet the two of them hadn't been on a date. According to her research, this was much too long and she had set about correcting that as soon as possible.

'_Let's see…' _Twilight thought as she scanned her list. _'Handsome bow tie, check. Picnic basket, check. Picnic blanket, check. Candles for romantic picnic, check. Salivating romantic dinner… err, sandwiches are good, right? Well, good thing I have her favorite donuts here too, so check. Make sure night is clear and comfortable, check. Scouted area before picnic, check. And finally a stylish hairdo…'_

Twilight took out a small mirror and looked at herself. Around her neck was a red bowtie along with a white detached color. Her hairstyle was not different at all from how she arranged it any other day.

'_I think it's pretty good,' _Twilight thought, striking up a few poses to display her mane from different angles. _'Check! Right, let's do this! I'm ready!'_

Twilight quickly walked over to her front door, her picnic basket floating along behind her in the air, and knocked on the door. After a few moments, the door opened and Emerald looked out. She blinked in some confusion when she saw Twilight.

"Hey there Twilight," Emerald greeted. "What's with the bowtie and basket?"

"Emerald Gleaner, would you please go on a date with me?" Twilight recited from the script she memorised.

"Oh!" Emerald stated with a wide smile and small chuckle. "Sure Twilight. Wwhere are we going and what are we doing?"

"I know this beautiful spot on a nearby hill," Twilight answered. "I think it would make for a wonderful romantic candle lit picnic."

"I think that sounds great!" Emerald said with a wide smile. "Shall we go?"

The two then made their way towards the place where Twilight planned to have the picnic. Though Twilight was wondering if she was doing something wrong, because Emerald seemed more amused about the whole thing than eagerly excited like the books suggested she would be.

'_It's not too big a difference, right?' _Twilight thought hopefully. _'Amusement is just as good as excitement… I think. If it isn't, hopefully the picnic can salvage a bad beginning.'_

They soon arrived at the destination, a hill with a single oak tree sitting atop it and a crisp, clear night sky above. The moon was out as well, so even if Twilight somehow forgot the candles they could have easily done the picnic by moonlight.

'_Which is arguably a more romantic setting if my research is correct.' _Twilight hummed in thought. _'But I already said I had candles for the picnic! Darn. Well, this can be just as good.'_

Once they were on top of the hill, Twilight briefly agonised over having the picnic fully under the tree or away from it so they had the sky over them. Eventually, she decided that having the night sky over them as they ate and talked was better for the atmosphere. She then quickly set up the blanket and the candles before revealing what they would be eating.

"Sandwiches and donuts. Quite the feast," Emerald said delightedly and eyed the donuts hungrily.

"Oh yes, uh… nothing but the best for you," Twilight replied and dug around the basket a bit, almost panicking as she couldn't find what she was looking for before finding it in the end.

Twilight quickly took her script out of the basket before Emerald could see and grabbed a sandwich for herself. Though she looked like she'd very much prefer having the donuts, Emerald grabbed a sandwich as well.

Twilight took her chance as Emerald bit into her sandwich and levitated the script she had just behind her head. She was suddenly rather glad she had candles, as it helped mask the glow of her magic behind Emerald. However, for all of Twilight's careful planning and scripting, she forgot one little detail…

Emerald's eyes darted up towards Twilight's forehead before darting to the side and looking like she was about to turn around. Twilight panicked and quickly darted the page out of sight and ended the spell. Emerald looked behind her, and after a moment of looking, turned back around to face Twilight with an amused shrug.

Twilight started up her spell again as Emerald's smile widened slightly and she began reading off her script.

"You look beautiful tonight, Emerald," Twilight complimented.

"Why thank you!" Emerald said. "I put in about… no effort at all to look this good, heh."

"Oh uh, right." Twilight smiled and quickly moved on to another line. "I think the night brings out your eyes beautifully."

"Oh I don't know, Twilight." Emerald said uncertainly. "I think the moonlight brings out your eyes better."

"O-oh, thank you Emerald…" Twilight blushed, remembering how Emerald liked her eyes.

Twilight went through her script a bit, looking for an appropriate line when she found complimenting table manners. She was about to recite it when she saw what Emerald was doing now.

The virus had finished her sandwich and was now into the donuts. It was clear that she had already eaten a few as white icing was smeared a little around her lips, which she quickly started to lick off.

'_Right, something else then,'_ Twilight thought.

The date continued on from there. Emerald munched away on donuts and the occasional sandwich while Twilight recited line after line of rather cheesy and predictable lines, more than a few sounding like tame pony pickup lines. Twilight for her part was rather worried she was doing something very wrong. Instead of becoming bashful and flustered by all the compliments she poured on, Emerald seemed to only stay amused and even laughed a few times. But at the same time, she hadn't just left in disgust like the book said the "datee" would if she felt the date was going horribly. So on the fact that this was her first time going on a date with someone and it wasn't ending horribly, she tentatively considered it going well.

Before long, Emerald had practically eaten everything Twilight had prepared and Twilight had nearly used up all her lines, and was now in danger of repeating herself which her research said was _very_ bad. So she considered the date over and had gone about escorting Emerald back home like the books suggested.

'_Okay, remember, try not to sound like you REALLY want to know how well you performed,'_ Twilight thought fretfully. _'Try to be as casual as possible.'_

"S-so uh, how did you like the date?" Twilight asked.

"I think it was great. I had a fun time all around." Emerald smiled widely.

Twilight smiled happily and remembered there was one last thing to do just yet. She stepped a bit closer and started leaning in to kiss Emerald goodbye as the books instructed was appropriate for a successful date. She was stopped by Emerald's hoof on her mouth.

"Twilight…" Emerald sighed but still had a small smile on her face. "You shouldn't try to make our relationship work like we are some couple in a romance novel. What we have… well, there aren't any pre-set rules for Equestria. We should just be ourselves and not do as some books say we should."

"Besides…" Emerald continued as she pulled Twilight into a tight hug. "You being yourself is what made me fall for you."

Twilight for her part was incredibly embarrassed for herself for how scripted and planned everything was, but was glad it all went over well with Emerald. She returned the other mare's hug, happy and content with the world.

'_This must be how others feel when they find somepony special to them,' _Twilight thought as she basked in Emerald's embrace. _'It feels so nice and…'_

Suddenly an image flashed through Twilight's mind, an image of Emerald shrouded in shadows and twisted in darkness, claws dripping with blood. Innocent lives ended and those they loved mourning their loss. Then Emerald simply walking away without any punishment or consequence and living happily with her friends, enjoying life despite the lives taken.

"Is there something wrong, Twilight?" Emerald asked after she felt Twilight stiffen up.

"Oh… I just felt cold all of the sudden," Twilight said honestly. She did feel cold, so very cold…

"Err, Twilight?" Emerald said questioningly as Twilight started walking away. "You do remember that you live here right?"

"Oh! Of course!" Twilight said in embarrassment before quickly walking back to her home, walking past a smiling Emerald who waited until she was inside before closing the door behind her.

**-TBC-**

AN: Okay, another chapter done! Progressing Hub development, creating connections with another little enclave, growing suspicions, a loved one feeling guilt for another's actions. You can all tell this is building up to something grand can't you? Heh, heh…

EN: I don't trust how things went with the Deinos mare. Something just reeks of suspicion with that one. Call me paranoid if you will, but I reserve the right to say 'I told you so' if shit goes down with her. Until then, I'll be waiting… biding my time… until the moment it all comes to light. Note that this is all conjecture on my part. Considering Legionary never tells me anything in advance… except for that one thing, but it wasn't as major as this might be… or that one other thing that will be added later. Anyways, considering he never tells me too much about future plans, this is all guesswork mostly. Still calling suspicious activity on that mare though.


	7. Chapter 7: The Best Intentions

"And this will be your new home, Ridge."

Ridge, a sheep dog wearing a zipped up green gray coat and beige green pants that ended at his knees, took in his home. It was a somewhat small apartment; the bedroom was its own room at least while the kitchen, living room and dining room were mixed together. It was definitely smaller than his parent's house, which he had moved out of a few days ago. He was the only one living here though, so the size wasn't a problem. He was rather happy about the running water though; no more lugging buckets from the aquifer springs and the sewage system was definitely appreciated.

"Thanks for showing me to my 'apartment'," Ridge said to his guide.

"Not a problem," the other dog waved off and left.

Ridge grabbed his bag containing his few pairs of clothing and went into the bedroom.

It was a simple enough setup. There was a bed that was about twin size, a dresser off to the side and a door leading to what he assumed was his bathroom. Ridge simply dropped his bag on his bed. He'd unpack later; for now he was hungry and from what he knew, those communal meals would start soon.

Ridge then left his room and walked down the hall to the atrium of the apartment complex he now lived in. He was on the higher floors, so he had to climb down to ground level.

Now the complex did have a stair case, but that was mostly meant for really old dogs and the very rest of the dogs just climbed down via four specially designed walls. Each wall was located in a corner of the atrium and was about ten feet wide that stretched up from the ground floor to the very top.

Ridge grabbed hold of one and started dropping down, grabbing hold of the wall every few feet to slow his descent. He did this for several moments before jumping off the wall and landing on the ground floor with a thump. He then walked out of the complex's front door.

Once outside, Ridge lifted fur out of his eye sight and looked around the streets to get an idea of where the dinner was being held. After a moment, he decided to just follow where everyone else seemed to be going.

'_A bit crude looking, but it gets the job done,' _Ridge thought as he took in the various stone buildings around him. Ridge was an independent dog from the packs in the depths and so was used to much more aesthetically pleasing buildings. The biggest reason for why he was here instead of setting up somewhere in his hometown was the free food. Ridge had grown up with rations. The only time he ever felt close to having over ate was when the pack got lucky and brought in a ton of meat. But those were rare in itself and hunting had to be carefully done or there wouldn't be enough food for everyone before long. But ever since the Enclave had started sending shipments of meat to all the packs suddenly, everyone had more than enough meat to spare.

It was the feeling of having a full stomach for five days straight that eventually caused Ridge to make his final decision on where he wanted to go when he moved out. After all, it surely would have been better tasting to get the meat straight from the source, now wouldn't it?

It was then that Ridge caught the scent that could only be beef stew with various vegetables thrown in for flavouring. Mouth-watering at the scent, the sheep dog picked up his pace.

Soon, he found himself in a large, wide open plaza filled with long tables and chairs. Over to the side were a long line of open windows that lead into the kitchen. Already a long line of dogs were forming, despite the number of windows that had cooks giving out food.

A little disheartened by the lines, Ridge simply huffed and took his spot. Thankfully the lines moved fast, as Ridge only had to wait ten minutes before he was at a kitchen window. There was only beef stew and either salt or pepper to put on it, but the portions were definitely generous thanks to the bowls. Making sure not to lose a single drop of his stew, Ridge got a seat at a fairly empty table, though it didn't remain that way for long.

Before long, a massive stream of dogs had arrived and the table Ridge was at was soon as crowded as the rest. Not that he minded it, but he still didn't know anyone here just yet.

"Hm, look at that lot over there," one dog stated, pointing a thumb towards a table. "They've been eating tons of food for days now."

Ridge looked over at the table in question and couldn't help but have his attention drawn to one of the Diamond Dogs sitting at the table. He looked a lot like a wolf, and his fur was stark white. If he was lying in snow, Ridge was sure he wouldn't be spotted. The next dog he noticed was _very _tall and had ton of muscle on him. He looked to be a rottweiler from what Ridge could see. The rest of the dogs sitting at the table shared two things in common. All had muscles that could be clearly defined, though not as massive as the rottweiler's, and all of them had huge bowls of stew they were rapidly wolfing down.

"Wow, they all got muscles really fast," commented one dog who let out a low impressed whistle. "Are they going to keep getting bigger?"

"I talked to one of them," another dog said as he chowed down on his stew. "They said they'll lose fat and build muscles just by moving around, but if they want to build _really_ huge muscles then they'll still need to put in effort. But right now? Getting in fighting shape is a breeze."

There was a moment of silence as the other dogs digested what they heard along with their meals. In that silence, one dog took the opportunity to speak.

"I saw that pony with the boss again," muttered one dog a bit sourly as he slowly ate his stew.

Immediately the mood at the table took a downturn. Several dogs shot the speaker a look while the rest looked a little uncomfortable.

"What? I am worried is all," the dog muttered defensively. "What if this pony sells us out to Equestria and tells their princess about us? We don't know anything about her at all."

"The boss knows her, and the boss has obviously chosen her as a potential mate," one dog answered. "Boss has never done us wrong, _ever_. Why should now be the time?"

"Hmph."

Ridge felt intensely curious right now; his home town was in the deepest parts of the tunnels and didn't talk about ponies much, other for saying they were surface walkers and how they looked.

"What is wrong with ponies?" Ridge broke in with his own question.

For a moment there was silence as the other dogs seemed to be reluctant to answer. Then the dog who had sounded suspicious of ponies spoke up.

"… How much do you know about ponies?" asked the dog.

"I know they live on the surface, come in three different kinds and have a powerful princess leading them," Ridge answered.

"Do you know about Nidhogg?" the dog asked, and Ridge nodded. "Well their princess is responsible for him. She was responsible for keeping him locked up, but she failed and he not only broke out without her knowing but destroyed our nation. It's the ponies' fault we suffered for a hundred years. I don't trust them."

"Bah!" one dog said dismissively. "If boss is willing to trust a pony, then I am too. Besides, what about Whisper? You don't trust her too?"

"Whisper is different,"the dog replied defensively and pointed off to the side. "She is the exception."

Ridge looked in the direction the dog was pointing and saw a dark blue winged pony with a purple mane sitting beside another dog. The dog beside her was a cheerful looking fellow and happened to be a husky.

Suddenly, there was clamour as a voice rose in alarm. Everyone at Ridge's table and everyone else in the plaza turned towards a group of startled dogs at one table. One of the dogs had a newspaper in his paws and was gesturing to one of the articles.

Everyone at Ridge's table got up and walked over to the disturbance and Ridge decided to follow suit. They weren't the only ones to get the same idea, but they still managed to get fairly close to the table.

"Hey! What's going on?!" someone shouted.

"DRAGONS!" the dog holding the newspaper shouted and waved said paper in the air. "I snuck into a pony town and got this paper. It says a whole _migration _of dragons are going to be passing through Equestria!"

Ridge wasn't terribly worried about the news; even if the dragons proved to be hostile, the Enclave was both underground and in the Everfree. The other dogs didn't seem to realise this, however, and fear bred into them from Nidhogg made them all panicky at the thought of dragons, especially a lot of them.

"We have nothing to fear!" one dog shouted.

"Yeah, the boss will protect us!" another added.

"The ponies have their princess, but we have our boss!"

There was a loud cheer that went up at that, and Ridge could only look around in interest of what he was hearing.

'_Hmm… I wonder what "The Boss" is like?' _he thought to himself.

**ALPHA**

Emerald stood next to Princess Luna on her dark chariot being pulled through the clouds by her Night Guard. Eventually, they broke through the clouds to a grand sight.

Ever so slowly drifting through the ocean was a massive squid like creature, a Kraken. It was easily as big as a small island and its thick, rock-like skin was covered in grasses and various plants. Situated in the center of its mass that was above the water was a building at least five stories tall. In front of the body in a long row were flags of many colors and designs blowing in the ocean breeze.

Emerald stared in open awe of the huge creature as they swooped down towards it. Eventually they came into a landing in an area that also had a number of aerial transports. As soon as she stepped off the chariot, Emerald couldn't help but experimentally tap her hoof on the ground. The grass made things softer, but the ground felt like really hard dirt rather than rock.

"Come along my student," Luna stated as she started walking towards the building. "The first meeting is starting soon and I want you to witness it."

"What is this place anyway?" Emerald asked.

"This is the headquarters of the League of Nations," Lune explained. "It's where all the nations in the known world send representatives or attend themselves to engage in politics on a much grander scale."

"Why is it on this… I assume this is a Kraken?" Emerald said hesitantly.

"True neutral ground, plus the center of this particular ocean is the most central place of the member nations," Luna replied. "Although we have to make sure the Kraken keeps drifting in this area, otherwise he just goes off to wherever the ocean takes him."

"Sounds like a laid back fellow," Emerald commented as they entered the front door of the building.

"He is very old. Most of the time he is simply napping," Luna explained. "From what I've heard, it was remarkably easy to convince him to let us build on his back."

Emerald looked around the interior. They were in the lobby of the building and all around them were various beings either here for the meeting or simply working at the building. Ponies, griffins, minotaurs, herons, the sure amount of different beings here represented how this building was the headquarters of intergovernmental organization.

"My sister has been having me attend League meetings in preparation for my eventual return to politics," Luna stated as they walked. "I decided this experience would do some good for you as well."

Emerald could agree with that statement. The idea of seeing what this world's version of the United Nations was like would definitely be interesting.

Soon, Emerald and Luna arrived in a side chamber overlooking the main meeting area. The area where all the heads of state and representatives were sitting looked a lot like the meeting room in the UN did. After a little bit of searching, Emerald spotted Celestia down on ground floor at her assigned desk, listening serenely to the current speaker on the floor. For some reason, Emerald expected what she assumed was the Secretary General, to be a pony, but he wasn't. The Secretary General was a zebra, an old one from his gray mane; although from the looks of him, the gray was likely the result of severe stress.

Emerald was interested at first… her interest quickly began to die off as people kept talking on and on, making mundane deals with other nations and basically uttering rhetoric.

Emerald was mere moments away from despairing at ever hearing something interesting when she spotted the griffin and minotaur representatives muttering to each other. Focusing on them, her powerful ears managed to pick out their words from the current speaker's.

"First his country cuts all trade deals with everyone, and now they are banning immigration and tourism," the griffin rep muttered. "And he still hasn't given us a proper explanation for it."

"Just what is the Prime Minister of Zebrica up to?" the minotaur muttered back. "Exports and tourism make up at least forty percent of his country's income. And I remember whst the Secretary was like over a year ago. He wasn't nearly this stressed."

"Tch. It hurts everyone when the leader goes bad," the griffin scoffed. "Suppose we just wait until he gets kicked out for incompetence by his parliament then?"

"Going to have to," the minotaur agreed.

'_Well there was a bit of exciting info,' _Emerald thought and looked at the stressed looking Secretary General. _'Well, not really. None of my business what some country somewhere does with itself, as long as it doesn't bother me or my own.'_

With that, Emerald settled in for the long wait full of trying her best to not let it show she was bored out of her mind. It was a lot harder than it looked.

**BETA**

Razor Wing sat beside a coffee table solving a puzzle with another Deinos. The study he was in had a little over a dozen Deinos lounging about in it. Most of the Deinos in the palace were either former palace staff or guards. They could have gone back to work while they waited for Celestia to "fix" them, but the Princess insisted they just rest and relax. And so they did, though boredom sometimes did set in.

Suddenly, the front doors to the room flung open and in stomped another Deinos. With a soft growl, he slammed the doors behind him, causing one of them to break off the top hinge and start to lean off the frame. At this, Razor Wing immediately rose up from his position beside the coffee table and approached the other Deinos.

"Is there something wrong?" Razor asked. "Why are you so angry?"

"I'm just… just a little irritated right now," the clearly frustrated Deinos said. "I am not angry at anypony."

"Yes you are, we are altered," Razor stated. "We get angry much more easily. Tell me what it is and all of us can help you feel better."

"Grrr… it's just… it's the princess!" the Deinos growled.

"What about the princess, Sparkle Shine?" one Deinos asked.

"I've just gotten back from her giving some of us an _encouraging _talk," Sparkle stated lowly. "She kept talking about how she is searching hard for the _cure_ to our conditions, like what we are now is some sort of disease or curse. I don't know about curses, but I do know that diseases are not beneficial. Who here can correct me and say what we are now isn't beneficial?!"

"I can't go back to just being another servant in this palace, I can't!" Sparkle shouted. "Not after having all this power, having magic, being able to fly. And after all that, just go back to being a plain old earth pony? Washing windows planes and cleaning table tops? I can't, I won't!"

"Ut you liked your jod, Sarkle," Sharp Skies said. "There wasn't a day you didn't go to work snileing."

"And I'm sure you loved just standing in front of a door all day every day, _Shark_," Sparkle replied with a biting tone.

"What did you call ne?!" Sharp hissed and gave a dangerous growl which Sparkle quickly returned.

"Stop it," Razor Wing stated, and when it looked like the two weren't going to listen, he shot his blade wings between them. "**Now.**"

Shooting infuriated looks at each other, Sparkle and Sharp went to opposite ends of the room. And as they did so, Razor Wing couldn't help but wonder if Sparkle wasn't the only Deinos to have that opinion.

**GAMMA**

Emerald walked down a street in Ponyville. It was early in the morning and the virus was just returning from spending the entire night at the Enclave, working.

Yesterday had been Spike's birthday. Everyone had given the little dragon something and so had Emerald. What the virus had given was a large pink diamond taken from Nidhogg's hoard to replace the one he had given to Rarity. Spike had been incredibly happy with the treat and eaten it on the spot. Then he had left to go get one of his presents which Emerald knew was a cake baked with various minerals and gems. When Spike had left, Emerald had excused herself to go to another photo shoot for New Paradigm and then went to work in the Enclave. There was a lot of work she needed to get down to prepare for creating a new kind of creature.

By the time she had gotten back the next morning, she had only laid down the foundations for her work.

Emerald entered the library and closed the door behind her softly. She didn't know exactly how early in the morning it was, only that it was early and by all chances only Applejack would have been up at this hour, so she didn't want to wake up everyone.

Intentions of not waking anyone up went out the window when she heard a startled shout come from upstairs.

In an instant, Emerald teleported to Twilight's bedroom and was met with no one around. Hearing voices from down the hall, she quickly teleported again, this time into Spike's room. This time she was met with an odd sight.

In the corner of the simple bedroom was a massive pile or random objects. Twilight was near the door and holding some books out of reach via her magic and Spike… he was definitely different. He was taller now, and looked a little older.

"Uhh… what happened?" Emerald asked. "Twilight, did another one of your spells misfire?"

"NO! I just woke up and came in here and Spike was like this!" Twilight said in confused concern.

"What's happening to me?!" Spike said in a deeper voice.

"Hmm…" Emerald pondered the situation. She had dragon memories now, taken from Nidhogg. Surely he knew something about what Spike was going through? However… why go through the trouble of sifting through memories when they had a fully grown dragon on hand? "I don't know, but you know who might? That dragon that's taken up residence on Fluttershy's property."

"Of course!" Twilight exclaimed. "I was thinking of taking him to a doctor, but an adult dragon that grew up around other dragons _must_ know what is happening to Spike."

"Right. Come close to me and I'll bring us to Fluttershy's cottage," Emerald stated.

Everyone did as the Evolved commanded… well, Spike had to be dragged because he found a book extremely appealing, but they were soon on their way.

"Oh my goodness!" everyone heard when they arrived.

Fluttershy was awake, but apparently was fresh out of the shower as her mane was a little moist.

"S-Spike?" Fluttershy said with wide eyes. "What in Equestria happened to you?"

"We don't know," Emerald answered. "We came here to ask that freeloading lump of yours to see if he knew anything. Maybe he can prove his worth for once."

"Emerald…" Fluttershy said with a shake of her head, her voice a little reproachful. "His name is Bulto."

"_Bulto_?" Emerald said in surprise and couldn't help the amused snort she let out.

"What's funny?" Twilight asked.

"In one language I know, bulto means lump," Emerald explained with a smile before shaking her head clear. "Anyway, we should go and question him. We have to see if he knows what is up with Spike."

The group of three plus Fluttershy made their way out of the cottage. Bulto's mass was unmistakable as he laid on his bed of gems they had made for him. As they neared, they saw that Bulto was teasing Angel with a clump of carrots, pulling them out of reach whenever Angel jumped for them. The dragon spotted the groups approach and Angel took advantage of the brief distraction, managing to snatch one carrot for himself and hopping away.

"Excuse me!" Fluttershy called out. "Bulto, can you help us please?"

Bulto only took a single glance at Spike before smirking.

"Ah, first greed growth," he commented and seemed to get a faraway look in his eyes. "I remember when I got my first greed growth."

"You know what's wrong with Spike?" Twilight asked excitedly.

"Wrong? There is nothing wrong with the whelp," Bulto replied, sounding a little insulted. "He's just getting older, getting these first urges to hoard and desire for wealth."

"Wait… Spike is going through puberty?" Emerald asked with a raised brow.

"Hmph, if you want to call it that," Bulto scoffed.

"Is he stuck like this?" Twilight asked in worry.

"No, greed growth is unnatural growth and isn't permanent," Bulto replied. "Usually a dragon in greed growth can be spotted by their stubby wings, but…"

"So what do we do?" Emerald asked. "Just keep him from gather a bigger hoard? And you said 'first greed growth'. Is Spike going to go through this several times?"

"That is one way to do it I guess. I calmed down after a few days of gathering," Bulto answered. "And it depends on the dragon. He might go through this again, or he may not."

"Well… sounds like we got our answer," Emerald said and looked hesitant for a long moment. "And thank you Bulto… you were very helpful."

"Whatever…" Bulto said and rolled over to face away from the group.

"Someone is going to have to be grounded for his own good for the next few days," Twilight stated while looking at Spike.

"Awww!" Spike groused and crossed his arms.

"I'm sorry Spike, but it's only until you return to your normal size," Twilight said.

'_All's well that ends well,'_ Emerald thought.

**DELTA**

Emerald sat in a warm rock cavern.

She was back in the Enclave, back in the very cavern she had been working on after she had gone to Spike's birthday party. This cavern was freshly carved with help from her dogs. And covering a vast majority of the walls and floors were orange, faintly translucent pods. They were large, each one easily bigger than the average human.

Currently, Emerald was sitting before one pod sitting in the middle of the room, a single tendril extending from her arm and into the pod.

'_Let's see… making a plant or little virus was simple, but now things are complicated.' _Emerald frowned in thought. _'It's probably for the best I decided to go for a really smart dog rather than outright sentience, because it's likely I would have gotten it wrong. Alright… where to start? That is the big question."_

The following hour mirrored Emerald's first attempts to create a unique form for herself, as she tried again and again to create something only to decide she did it wrong and wipe the slate clean.

'_I'm doing something wrong… what am I doing wrong?' _Emerald rubbed her eyes with one hand in some frustration. _'Wait… I'm trying to make something from scratch. I don't have to do that. I've got tons of "examples" right here in my mind of how creatures work on a genetic level. So let's try to make something based on those.'_

Since she was aiming for a really smart dog, she based most of the brain off a dog's. However, she intended this creature to be a shock creation. Having said that, she needed it to be able to potentially solve a problem it may encounter in its mission when she gave it one.

'_So make the problem solving area of the brain stronger and better able to handle issues.'_ Emerald hummed in thought. _'Increasing adaptability always sounds like a good option… now how to go about it?'_

Emerald went about tweaking the brain of what would be her new creature; it was difficult, that was certain, because she hadn't really done this before. Eventually she finished what she hoped was a brain that would be capable of what she intended. Now she just needed a body, and she knew just where to get the genes for that.

Bringing forth every example of bird DNA she had within her immense repertoire, Emerald began tweaking genes ever so slightly to get what she wanted. The virus smiled brightly and felt her excitement grow. This was actually pretty fun.

**EPSILON**

With a flash of pink light, Emerald and Twilight appeared on the mooring dock of the Cloud Nine.

The both of them were here via invitation from Fancy Pants to join him for a dinner date on the prestigious flying restaurant. They were also wearing their best clothes for the occasion, namely the dresses Rarity had made for them for the Gala.

There was no sign of Fancy Pants or Fleur De Lis though, so Emerald and Twilight decided to wait a bit. While they waited, Emerald also noticed that Twilight looked a bit stressed out and could easily guess the reason why.

"Relax, Twilight," Emerald said soothingly. "This place gets high profile guests all the time and knows better than to make them uncomfortable."

"Yeah… that's true, isn't it?" Twilight said and took a breath. "It's just I can't help but think of the time we both went for a walk and everypony started staring at us."

"And that went away fairly quickly and life returned to normal... well, as about as normal as Ponyville gets anyway," Emerald said. She was actually a bit surprised at how quick everyone seemed to just go with it.

'_Must be because of how much of a weirdness magnet the town is,' _Emerald mused. _'Seriously, I doubt any other town puts up with even half as much crap as Ponyville does.'_

"Yeah, I guess I just can't help but be reminded of a bad experience," Twilight said softly with a growing smile. "I'm sure we're going to have a lot of fun dining in high class."

"We definitely are, and look!" Emerald said gesturing off to the side. "There they are now."

Fancy Pants and Fleur De Lis were just getting off their personal carriage now and approaching the moor. Fancy was wearing a stately tuxedo while Fleur looked beautiful in a really frilly pink and white gown. The two nobles gave warm smiles as they approached, though Fleur's looked much more excited.

"Ah, Emerald Gleaner!" Fancy Pants greeted. "And this must be your lovely date. I'm sorry to say I've not had the pleasure of properly meeting Princess Celestia's student."

"Thank you. I am Twilight Sparkle," Twilight greeted with a small curtsy.

"And I am Fancy Pants," the noble replied and got an impatient nudge from Fleur. "Ah, and I mustn't forget my better half. Emerald Gleaner, Twilight Sparkle, this is Fleur De Lis."

"It's nice to meet you," Twilight said politely.

"The same," Emerald added.

"It's great to meet the both of you!" Fleur said excitedly. "And apologies to your date, but it's doubly exciting to meet you, Emerald Gleaner."

"Fancy has told me you've been meaning to have this meeting for a long time," Emerald said.

"Oh yes!" Fleur nodded. "I've been in modeling for several years now and I've honestly never seen a pony rise up so fast as you."

"Fluttershy is still pretty popular too."

"Yes she is, but she only models every now and then. Just enough to stay in the spotlight," Fleur replied. "While you, you invested smartly and quickly rose into high society. You came from a background of poverty and a lack of schooling of any kind, and look at you now! Princess Luna's personal student and enough wealth to be set for life should you desire to retire here and now."

"Well, thank you for the compliments," Emerald said with a smile, actually feeling a little embarrassed at the praise.

"Ah, perhaps we should move this conversation inside the restaurant?" Fancy broke in. "It's why we are here after all."

"Oh my, of course!" Fleur said, putting her hoof to her mouth in embarrassment.

The group of four approached the front door of the restaurant and the door pony only gave them a single glance before quickly opening the door for them. The four were then quickly lead to a table that would no doubt have quite a view once the Cloud Nine was airborne.

Twilight looked around, nervous of her earlier fears being true. But just like Emerald had said, people came to this restaurant to have a quiet meal, not get swarmed by fans and paparazzi. Still, from her look around of this place, Twilight couldn't help but feel every single person here was rich or famous, or both.

"So here is your complimentary bread and water," the waitress said as she levitated the glasses and small tray on the table. "Thank you for coming to the Cloud Nine, here are your menus. I'll be back shortly for your orders. Please enjoy yourselves and the captain will be lifting off momentarily."

"So what are you getting?" Emerald asked Twilight as she scanned her own menu.

"Hmm, I don't know. They all look so good to me," Twilight answered and could already feel her stomach start to rumble from the descriptions of the various meals.

"Well I'll be getting a deluxe salad. I'm in the mood for a little bit of everything," Emerald stated. "And a baked potato as a side order sounds good."

"Oh that sounds delicious!" Fleur said. "I'll be having the same!"

"Today's soup shall be my order," Fancy added.

"And I will have a… zucchini chickpea burger," Twilight said after a moment, though she wasn't sure if it was a burger or a form of stew because of the picture.

"So back to what we were talking about," Fleur said with a smile. "After hearing your rise to fame and fortune, I just _had_ to meet you one day, and now I have! You've inspired me as well, you know?"

"I have?" Emerald asked.

"Oh yes!" Fleur nodded. "Fancy told you I had taken to modeling for another company to help them, right? Well that's not the only thing I have done. I've studied your posing in the latest set of ads you were in. Personally, I found them quite odd, but the stallions seem to love them, and Fancy seemed so very energetic after I tested a few poses on him that I based on yours."

"Energetic, huh?" Emerald asked with a grin.

"Oh yes, from what I heard he had a bounce in his step all day," Fleur replied. "Anyway, after testing the poses on him I decided to use them in my next set of ads for the company."

"Wow, I'm actually really interested in seeing how they turned out," Emerald said with an amused smile.

"Well you along with everypony else will get to see in about week when the new ad campaign gets started," Fleur said with a smile.

Sitting beside Emerald, Twilight could only shake her head at the two models talking shop. Inwardly, she also felt a little left out, even though she didn't exactly have much to add to that discussion. Apparently Fancy Pants felt the same way, as he started speaking to her.

"I must compliment you on your dress my dear," Fancy pants stated. "It is quite the number, and suits you well."

"Why thank you," Twilight replied. "My friend Rarity made it."

"Rarity? From Ponyville?" Fancy asked and got a nod from Twilight. "What a coincidence. I met Rarity in Canterlot a while ago."

"Wow, that is a coincidence!" Twilight said.

"Yes, she can spin quite the yarn," Fancy said with a minute frown before smiling again. "And she definitely has the sense for fashion and the ability to create it from what I can see of your dress."

"She definitely does." Twilight smiled and looked down at her dress. "I am very fortunate to know her as a friend, in more ways than one."

"Indeed," Fancy said.

"Hello everyone!" the waitress greeted. "I see you are all enjoying yourselves. Are you all ready to order?"

"Oh, me and Emerald will be having deluxe salads with baked potato side orders," Fleur answered.

"Today's soup for me please."

"And a zucchini chickpea burger for me please."

"Alright, just enjoy the view over lovely Canterlot," the waitress said, gesturing to the vista slowly moving by in the windows. "And I shall be back with your orders soon."

"Excuse me miss," Emerald said and levitated over a small bag. "Here, you yourself have a good day."

"Oh my goodness!" The waitress gasped when she saw all the bits in the bag. "Thank you so much Miss Gleaner!"

"Not a problem."

"I must say Miss Sparkle, I'm quite glad there are ponies like Emerald Gleaner in the world," Fancy said with a smile as Emerald and Fleur got back to talking shop.

"Oh?"

"Yes, like Fleur has said, Emerald has done much to inspire ponies like her into good, not to mention how much of an inspiration she will be for the less fortunate," Fancy said with a soft smile. "I've said it before, but there will be generations both present and future who will be inspired by her tale of success despite such meager beginnings."

"Y-yes… it's great, isn't it?" Twilight forced a smile on her face.

Twilight couldn't help but think that for all the good Emerald did in helping to revitalise the economy, she was the reason it was in such a state. She may inspire ponies to better themselves and improve their lives, but she still ended hundreds of lives, taken loved ones away. And there was no telling just how many people were homeless now because of Emerald's actions.

"Is there something wrong?" Fancy asked as the waitress returned with their orders.

"Just… personal concerns," Twilight answered and started to eat her meal.

**ZETA**

Emerald walked through the armory of the Enclave, Navi buzzing about her head.

The virus was here to attend a weapons demonstration her dogs had set up for her; they had developed a new gun and improved upon the design of another. The new armor was also finished being tweaked and was ready for use.

Emerald looked over the rifles the Warhounds used as she walked past. A good number of Warhounds were around the size of the bulldogs she had first seen of the various Diamond Dog subspecies, but there were a few species that were rather small. Those species had to use smaller guns and there were several available for them to use. These rifles were equal to their human equivalent, but the rifles and pistols for the larger dogs were extremely powerful; a lot like small cannons and anti-tank rifles.

Emerald stepped out of the armory and into the adjacent hall. She walked down that hall a bit before entering a door on her right. She came into a very long room; a practice range where the two guns were going to be demonstrated and the armor shown. Along with them were several dogs, one of whom was Missy.

Emerald saw the new gun and smiled. It was a gatling gun with a crank. It was set up on a carriage much like how gatling guns looked in the nineteenth century. A Warhound was holding the rifle with the improved design, though at first glance she couldn't spot much of an improvement. And speaking of Warhounds…

The Warhound holding the rifle was wearing the new dragon scale armor with silk underclothes. Under the scales was a red silk tunic and leggings. Hopefully they would serve as a great lightweight replacement of chainmail. Over the silk clothes were various black scales sloped over each other. Larger, wider scales were used for areas that wouldn't bend all that much, while smaller scales were used for joints and areas that bent. The helmet was much like the sallet design for the previous armor and consisted of one or two large scales and a ton of smaller ones over a steel framework.

"Well I am here now," Emerald said. "What are you going to show me first?"

"Well first thing, boss, is the rifle." Missy stepped forward and gestured to the weapon in the Warhound's paws. "We've made another improvement thanks to some creative thinking and the things you've told us about. We'll demonstrate now."

The Warhound took that as his cue and approached the firing stalls. Just a few steps behind the stalls was a glowing dark blue line running around the floor and ceiling of the floor, and meeting at two runic set ups in the walls. The runes were sound dampeners and made the shooting much quieter, much like a firecracker, which was a plus considering how big a caliber the dog was going to fire.

Coming to a stop at a stall, the dog lined up a shot at a crude wooden monster and fired. The first shot blew off most of the monster's head, another two shots blew off its claws, one more shot finished off the rest of its head and four rapid shots cut the monster in two at the waist. At the eighth shot there was a loud 'ding!' noise and a clip popped out of the top of the rifle. The Warhound switched on the safety before collecting the clip and standing at attention.

"You used what I told you about the M1 Garand to improve upon our rifles," Emerald stated with a smile. "Nice to have semi-auto weapons now."

"Yep!" Missy said with a smile and pointed to the gatling gun. "And this is our first… full auto? Rapid repeating? One or the other, but this is the first of what will be our rapid fire weapons."

The Warhound placed his gun on the rack on the side and approached the gatling gun. Taking up position just behind the gun, the dog looked down the sights and placed his paw on the crank. Taking aim at another wooden monster the dog slowly but steadily started turning the crank.

The gatling gun started off slow but quickly started to build up as the dog cranked the gun faster and started tearing the target apart. The dog looked like he definitely wanted to crank the gun faster, but seemed to know that would just cause a jam in the weapon. Eventually the bullet clip ran down and the wooden monster was reduced to a pile of kindling.

"And that was everything. How did you like it, boss?" Missy asked.

"All very nice demonstrations." Emerald nodded. "To tell the truth, we seem a bit behind on automatic developments, but our guns are fairly powerful and rapid firing now. Anyway, how is the armor?"

The Warhound wearing the armor stretched his limbs and shifted in position for a moment.

"Feels comfortable, boss," he replied. "Much lighter and more comfortable than the last suit of armor."

"Good, because that is what we are going to be outfitting everyone with from now on," Emerald stated and turned back to Missy. "So how long until everyone can get the new rifles?"

"We should have enough rifles for everyone by the end of the week," Missy answered.

"Good."

**ETA**

Twilight was confused. From her point of view, she was floating just above the rooftops of Ponyville and yet she could see herself walking down the street with Emerald, looking rather happy. Since this didn't feel uncomfortable at all, Twilight simply settled in to watch what was happening. Soon she saw herself come to a stop before a florist's shop.

"Oh that smells wonderful!" Twilight heard herself say. "I wish I remembered to bring my bits."

"Just one moment." Emerald smiled at Twilight's doppelganger. "I'll be right back."

Twilight saw Emerald walk inside the shop and briefly look over all the flowers. After several moments of browsing, she started collecting a bouquet of flowers and started to leave when she finished. Since she looked like she wasn't going to pay, the shopkeeper was understandably miffed.

"Excuse me!" she shouted after Emerald "You have to pay for those, miss!"

Emerald simply rolled her eyes and looked back at the shopkeeper. With a flair of her horn, the shopkeeper's head twisted to the side with a sickening crack and she collapsed to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut.

Twilight's hooves flew to her mouth as she gasped in horror at Emerald's casual brutality. However, her doppelganger had a different reaction to Emerald.

"Are those for me?" Twilight heard herself say with a smile, blatantly ignoring the murder committed in front of her. "How sweet of you!"

"No problem at all Twilight." Emerald smiled and the two went on their way.

"Mommy?" a small voice said and a young colt emerged from the back of the shop. "Mommy?! Mommy, wake up!"

Over Ponyville, Twilight felt herself overwhelmed with horror at her other self's reaction and Emerald's petty murder. She grew confused at everyone else's reaction; the murder had been done in broad daylight but no one had reacted to Emerald. They reacted to the murder, yes; going to comfort the young colt and taking the body out of sight, but they didn't spare Emerald a single look or try to punish her for what she did.

Emerald and Twilight continued on their way down the street, unbothered by anyone. Eventually they came to a bridge where a small family her been pulling a cart full of their possessions. The had suffered an accident and lost a wheel and ended up blocking the bridge. The stallion was busy trying to replace the wheel while his wife was standing a short distance away with her small baby on her back. No one seemed to mind the unintended road block and simply took the long way around. Twilight's other self seemed like she was about to do the same, but Emerald stopped her.

With a burst of magic, Emerald sent the cart flying off the bridge to the family's shock and horror, as they watched everything they owned go into the river. A moment later, Emerald sent them into the river as well.

"After you," Emerald said to the other Twilight.

"Thank you!" Twilight said and started crossing the bridge. "You are being very sweet today, Emerald."

"What can I say?" Emerald began and started crossing the bridge herself. "You bring out the best in me."

A short distance down the river, the family was helped out of the river by nearby pedestrians. The mare started panicking and crying when her baby wasn't responding to her…

Up in the air, Twilight felt tears start to run down her face at Emerald's actions and her other self's unashamed apathy at the brutality. Why was she acting that way? Why was no one doing anything about Emerald? She was just getting away with everything without being punished in the least.

Eventually the two came to a diner that was packed with ponies. The other Twilight looked like she wanted to get something to eat, but didn't want to deal with the long wait. Again, Emerald took it upon herself to solve the issue and please Twilight. She stepped into the diner and, up in the air, Twilight braced herself for another bout of brutality.

She wasn't disappointed; Emerald inhaled in a large breath and exhaled fire. The burst of fire wasn't big enough to catch the building, but the same couldn't be said for ponies and some nearby tables. Some ponies screamed in agony as their coat and mane caught fire. The rest panicked and moved to get out of the diner in any way possible. Some ran past Emerald out the door, but most simply broke the windows and jumped out of the diner. Eventually, the only ponies in the diner were those that worked there and a few that were too burnt to move or even live for much longer.

"Here you go!" Emerald said. "We'll get service really quick now."

"Thank you Emerald…" The other Twilight said and became really shy for a moment before giving Emerald a kiss on the cheek.

The two sat at a table and were soon served up a meal as they ate peacefully in the scorched interior of the diner. Soon doctors from the local clinic arrived and started trying to treat some of the heavily burned ponies. A few were stabilised, but most were just made comfortable before they died.

Up in the air, Twilight cried openly as she wondered why this was happening. What could possibly cause all this? Emerald didn't do bad things just because she could; Twilight knew that as the truth… right?

Soon, the two in the diner were done eating and in the very least Emerald paid this time. They walked down a street and were soon walking out of the town. They kept walking until they reached a hill with a tree upon it. They sat down under the tree and took in the scenic view of Ponyville as the sun began to set.

Emerald seemed to get an idea and stepped away from Twilight for moment and inhaled.

Twilight could not help but the scream of horror as she witnessed Emerald let loose a beam of plasma into the homes of Ponyville. Emerald kept up the beam for several moments and swung it over the town several times before finally ending it. Then she walked back to Twilight and the both of them enjoyed the sunset with the burning town of Ponyville providing scenic lighting.

Twilight cried as the brutality of it all. What was the point of all this?

"Twilight Sparkle?" Twilight heard from just under her.

Looking down, she saw Princess Luna looking up at her with a deeply confused and disturbed look on her face.

"What in my sister's sun is going on?" Luna asked.

'_Wh-what? What's going- IT'S A DREAM!' _Twilight realised with so much shocked relief she woke up.

**THETA**

Twilight gasped as she shot up in her bed. She looked over at Emerald's bed with wide eyes, but found she shouldn't have bothered. As was the usual, Emerald wasn't in her bed and had gone off to do her own things in the night.

Twilight groaned and fell back on her bed with a thump. She lied in bed, feeling wide awake in the face of all she had seen in her dream. Eventually, after several minutes of fruitless attempts to sleep, she decided to go back downstairs and warm up a cup of milk to drink.

Twilight became tense when she stepped downstairs and glanced into the library. Emerald wasn't anywhere to be seen, so she must have been somewhere else.

'_Likely she's back in the Enclave, hard at work,'_ Twilight thought with a frown as she continued to the kitchen.

Walking into the kitchen, she opened the fridge door and took out a carton of milk. She then opened the cabinet and took out a glass for herself. After pouring a cup, she returned the carton to the fridge and then sat at the counter and stared at the cup of milk, slowly but steadily warming it up with her magic.

As she sat at the counter, Twilight couldn't help but wonder if there was some hidden meaning to the dream she just had. She thought about how Emerald got away with every horrible crime in the dream, and how her dream self utterly ignored it all in favour of the good times they were having. After several moments, Twilight realised what the meaning behind the dream was.

'_The "me" in the dream represents me and how I am now,' _Twilight thought with a sigh. _'I'm ignoring Emerald's horrible crimes and deeds in favour or our friendship, of our relationship. Hundreds dead, thousands suffering, ponies homeless, and all I care about is Emerald…'_

'_Ohhh… what do I do?' _Twilight thought with a groan. _'Betraying Emerald is bad, but ignoring all those horrible things is worse! And Princess Luna appeared at the end. If I have another nightmare like this, she might appear again and it might be a clearer picture for her to take in. Life would be so much less complicated if Emerald hadn't been made to be such a horrible villain by that monster, Alex Mercer. If only… wait, villain… Luna was a villain, but she was redeemed by the Elements of Harmony and now everypony loves and trusts her.'_

'_If I can get the Elements and then use them on Emerald, she'll be redeemed like Luna and everything will be better!' _Twilight thought. _'It worked for Princess Luna, it should work for Emerald. It WILL work!'_

Twilight felt her worries fall away as she downed her cup of milk in one go. Her expression became one of assured determination. Putting the glass in the sink, she walked out of the kitchen and started walking back to her room.

'_Now I just need to get a hold of the Elements,' _Twilight thought. _'I should do my best to avoid telling ponies about the truth behind Emerald. Who knows what they may decide to do with the information. I'll tell my friends though… right before I use the Elements on Emerald. Once she is redeemed, everything __**will**__ be good again. It'll be like how everything was before I found out the truth… except we are fillyfriends.'_

With flushed cheeks, Twilight ascended her stairs and slid back into bed, where she had a much more calm and soothing sleep.

**-TBC-**

AN: Alright this is slightly shorter then I'd hoped it would end up being; it's the first chapter in a long time that's below ten thousand at any rate. Anyway, now you all know the reason why this chapter is called 'The Best Intentions' and now I'm going to tell you the name of the next chapter, 'Eternity Beckons', it's going to a fun chapter…

EN:  . 

That's pretty much my face when I was reading that last bit… Twilight… you're an idiot. *facepalm* You are going to seriously screw your relationship with Emerald here, and she will probably never trust you again. I'm done. All I needed to say. Until next chapter. Goodbye.


End file.
